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THE CRYSTAL BALL 







WHAT IS IT? ” DEMANDED JOAN. “can’t YOU TELL ME NOW? ” 

frontispiece. See page S. 





THE 


CRYSTAL BALL 


BY 

MARY D, GORDON 


WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
THE AUTHOR 



BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 
1920 



Copyright, 1920 , 

By Little, Brown, and Company. 

All rights reserved 
Published September, 1920 


NorfoooU 

Set up and electrotyped by J. S. Cushing Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U. S. A. 


SEP 18 1320 
©CI.A597444 

l • 


142 €x 



“What is it?” demanded Joan. 

“Can’t you tell me now?” . Frontispiece 

“Now, we ’re all comfy,” he continued, 

“ and so I ’ll start ” . . . page 9 


The deer turned her beautiful wild 
eyes upon them and gazed long 
and steadily .... 

She drew a little table up beside the 
settee and placed a platter of 
gingerbread and two large mugs 
of cider upon it . 

An enormous white wolfhound 
bounded out upon the path 

He cautiously drew forth his cap- 
pistol out of his belt . 

Jock struck the big silver gong . 

“They look like soldiers,” observed 
the boy 


” 58 ^ 

” 80 ^ 

” 133 ^ 

” 162 
” 204 ^ 

” 234 ^ 




THE CRYSTAL BALL 



O^CE upon a time, in the fair and 
prosperous Kingdom of Moondom, there 
lived and reigned a wise and learned 
King. Now, the greatest proof of this 
King’s exceeding wisdom was the Queen 
he had selected to help him manage his 
palace and adorn his court ; for she was 
as good as she was beautiful, which is 
saying a great deal indeed ; and also she 
was one of the best housekeepers in the 
whole countryside. If you could only 
have seen her pantry shelves ! Such jams 
and pickles, such puddings and pies, such 


2 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


tins of biscuits and jars of honey ! Nat- 
urally it takes a very wise King to dis- 
cover such a treasure of a Queen; and 
all the subjects in the Kingdom of Moon- 
dom knew it and honored their King 
accordingly. 

This King and Queen were blessed 
with twin children, a boy and a girl. 
The boy was called Prince Jock, and the 
girl Princess Joan; and they were a 
source of great pride to their fond and 
doting parents ; for they were very sweet, 
pretty children, and quite good, even if 
they did care more about playing in and 
around the royal stables and chicken coops 
than their mother approved of, and not as 
much about their lesson books as their 
father had hoped they would. But I am 
sure that you will agree with me that 
these little failings are very excusable; 
for every one knows what a charming 
place a stable is, especially a royal stable 
with milk-white steeds and gilded chariots. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


3 


Now the stable of the royal palace of 
Moondom was a great building made of 
rough gray stone, with the grandest kind 
of a loft just filled with hay and straw to 
roll in; and down below there were bins 
full of oats and corn (which are lots of 
fun to run through your fingers), and 
the largest imaginable water trough, — 
so large, in fact, that it was almost as 
good as a creek to wade in, but not 
quite. And then there were so many 
jolly stableboys, who knew all sorts and 
kinds of fascinating things, such as the 
best way to make brass and nickel but- 
tons shine just like gold and silver, and 
how to tell a horse’s exact age by look- 
ing in his mouth, indeed they really were 
clever. And then the way they could 
whistle and sing ! And the smell of their 
pipes was more fragrant than frankincense 
and myrrh ! 

The king kept a number of horses and 
ponies; and also his pack of hunting 


4 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


dogs stayed at the stable with their pup- 
pies, and the head groom kept a ferret to 
keep down the rats, and now and then a 
gray grandfather rat would steal out of 
his hole and start to run, while the 
stableboys would drop the harness they 
were polishing and throw brickbats at 
him. Oh, there was no doubt about its 
being a wonderful stable ; and the royal 
poultry yard was almost as charming. 

I am telling you all this so that you 
won’t blame Jock and Joan one little bit 
for caring to play there. And as for les- 
sons, everybody knows that they are n’t 
really any fun at all. 

Now, at the time I am writing about, 
early one bright June morning, as the 
royal family of Moondom were finishing 
their breakfast (good housekeepers all 
insist on early breakfast; they say it 
makes the day longer), the King looked 
up from his newspaper, The Moondom 
Times , and said to the Queen : 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


5 


“ My dear, The Times has a most 
interesting article on the attempt of our 
valiant neighbor and brother ruler, the 
King of Starland, to capture the Crystal 
Ball from the Garden of the Sun.” 

“ Grasping creature ! ” exclaimed the 
Queen. “ I hope he didn’t succeed. He 
never took the least interest in crystals 
until he found that you were making a 
study of crystal-gazing ; and then he was 
immediately filled with the desire to 
possess the very one he knows you have 
set your heart upon having for years. I 
never did like him, anyway.” 

The King sighed. 

“We mustn’t be too hard on our 
neighbors, my dear,” he said. “’T is only 
natural that any one should want to own 
the most magic crystal in the whole wide 
world, and he has just as good a right to 
it as I have. But, as you say, he did n’t 
want it until he found out how much 
time, money and energy I had expended 


6 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


to get it. Well, he has failed as coni' 
pletely as I have ; and so I am afraid the 
Crystal Ball will remain forever in the 
Garden of the Sun, with nothing but the 
bees and butterflies to read its magical 
depths.” 

“ Brace up ! ” said the Queen. “ We ’ll 
manage to get it yet,” and she rattled the 
keys in her key basket in a most deter- 
mined manner. 

The twins, who had been quietly listen- 
ing to what was said (children should be 
seen and not heard), pushed back their 
empty oatmeal bowls and asked if they 
might take their oranges out into the 
garden to eat. 

“Certainly,” said the Queen, “but first 
fold your napkins and put your spoons on 
the side of your plates ; and don’t make a 
noise in going out.” 

The children obediently did as they 
were told and then slipped quietly into 
the garden. Now the palace garden was 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


7 


one of the most beautiful places imagi- 
nable, with big trees and marble terraces, 
where peacocks strutted up and down. 
And then, the roses! Why, you never 
saw so many in your life — red, pink, 
and yellow, and white — big ones, little 
ones, and middle-sized ones. And besides 
these, there were a great many other 
lovely flowers, and down at the far end of 
the garden, where there were no trees to 
interfere with the sun’s rays, stood a long 
grape arbor with benches made of marble ; 
and right in the very center of this arbor 
a fountain splashed and bubbled, while 
gold and silver fish swam slowly around 
and around, and nibbled at the bread 
crumbs the gardener had thrown them 
for their breakfast. Beyond the arbor, at 
one end, stood the palace sundial, and at 
the other a moon dial; for, as you must 
know, clocks and watches were entirely 
out of style in Moondom, and dials were 
all the rage. 


8 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


It was to this beautiful spot that the 
royal twins were in the habit of taking 
their breakfast fruit to eat ; and, as they 
scampered down the marble steps and 
skipped across the wide terraces, Jock 
caught impatiently at his sister’s dress and 
cried : 

“ Can’t you come a little faster, old 
slow-coach ? I ’ve got the grandest idea 
you ever heard ; so please hurry, for I ’m 
simply wild to tell it.” 

“What is it?” demanded Joan, stop- 
ping perfectly still and gazing with round, 
expectant eyes at her twin. “ Can’t you 
tell me now ? ” 

“No,” answered Jock. “It’s too big 
an idea to tell until we get into the arbor. 
But I will tell you that it ’s something so 
fine that when I first thought of it at 
breakfast, I almost shouted right out loud ; 
and that would have spoilt it all, I knew, 
and so I just bit down on my spoon hard 
and then took a regular jumbo swallow of 


f'^Ot) xJOffi » t« -OQ> 3? 



“now, we’re all comfy,” he continued, 

Page 9. 


“and so i’ll start.” 


















) 
















































































































































































- 




















♦ 


\ 






















































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• 



























































































THE CRYSTAL BALL 


9 


water ; and that way I managed to keep 
the shout in. But come on ; we must n’t 
stop here to talk all day,” and Jock caught 
his sister by the hand and hurried her 
breathlessly across the lawn, and into the 
arbor. 

“ Oh, tell it now,” said Joan, as they 
seated themselves on one of the white 
marble benches. Jock dropped the or- 
anges into her lap and said : 

“You pull the skins off while I talk. 
Now, we 're all comfy,” he continued, “ and 
so I ’ll start. Well, the great idea is this. 
You know that Father’s birthday is next 
week. Now, why can’t you and I steal 
off together to the Garden of the Sun, 
without anybody knowing a thing about 
it, and get this magical Crystal Ball, and 
bring it home to him as a birthday pres- 
ent? You know he’d love to have it 
better than anything else we could give 
him.” 

Joan clapped her hands together. 


10 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ Oh,” she breathed, “ it ’s a wonderful 
idea! Do you really think that we can 
get it ? ” 

“ I ’m sure we can,” said Jock with 
great decision. “We won’t have any 
trouble at all.” 

Joan was much relieved to hear this, 
and as she handed him his orange, nicely 
peeled, she said : 

“ But there ’s one other thing that wor- 
ries me, J ock. It ’s this : I ’ve already 
got a birthday present for Father. Don’t 
you remember the white linen handker- 
chief that I ’ve been hemstitching for 
almost a month 1 W ell, that ’s his birth- 
day present. Now, if we get him the 
Crystal Ball, what are we to do with the 
handkerchief? ” 

This was a serious question; and Jock 
pondered gravely over it, with knit brows. 
Suddenly his face lit up. 

“I know what we can do,” he cried, 
“ and it will be easy enough to fix.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 11 

“ What 1 ” demanded Joan. 

“ Why, we 11 take the handkerchief 
along with us ; and so, when we find the 
Crystal Ball, we 11 wrap the handker- 
chief around it before we present it to 
Father.” 

“ Goody ! ” exclaimed Joan. “ Then 
Father will have two presents at once. 
The very second we find the Crystal Ball 
we 11 wrap it up tight in the handker- 
chief. Oh, you ’re such a smart boy to 
think of it. You know, I ’d planned to 
have it laundered before I gave it to him. 
It ’s not so very clean ; but that won’t 
really matter, because he can have it 
washed afterwards.” 

“ Certainly,” agreed Jock. “W e have n’t 
time to stop to see about laundry or any- 
thing, now. The sooner we ’re off after 
the Crystal Ball, the better.” 

“ Shall we start soon 1 ” asked Joan. 

“At midnight; with nothing but the 
moon’s pale beams to light us on to 


12 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

glory,” said Jock, lowering his voice to a 
dramatic whisper. “You know, there 
will be a lot of glory in this adventure 
for us. Just think! Two children who 
all by themselves went to the Garden of 
the Sun, and captured the magical Crys- 
tal Ball that soldiers and wise men had 
been after for years and years, and never 
had succeeded in getting. Have n’t you 
finished peeling your orange yet*? Good? 
Now, while we eat them, we can think 
up all the things we will have to take 
with us.” 

It was very still in the arbor, except 
for the motion among the goldfish in the 
fountain caused by the tossing of orange- 
pips upon the water, and the disappoint- 
ing discovery that they were not eatable. 
My! what a bad temper those goldfish 
did show, as they sniffed at the seeds. 
Perhaps you did n’t know that fish grew 
angry. Ah, but they do! Some day, 
you go and throw grains of corn, or little 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


13 


pieces of paper into their fountain, and 
watch how they will come swimming to 
the top with a rush ; and the very second 
they find the corn or paper is n’t good to 
eat, like bread or cake, they ’ll go flop- 
ping down to the very bottom of the 
water ; and they ’ll stay there, too, even 
when you put in something that they 
like. You just try it sometime, and 
you ’ll see. 

“I’m through,” announced Joan, as 
she popped into her mouth the last of her 
orange and daintily licked her thumb and 
forefinger. 4 ‘Now, what shall we take 
with us when we go after the Crystal 
Ball % Biscuits ? No ; I know : our col- 
lapsible drinking cups, and matches to 
make camp fires with, and blankets.” 

“Wait a minute,” said Jock. “You 
let me say something. We can’t take 
blankets ; they ’re too heavy. But we will 
take the other things ; and also my 
hatchet and cap-pistol for arms. We’re 


14 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


apt to need arms for protection ; and if 
you want to, you can bring your new 
blue cape, if you think it will be cold. 
But no blankets ! Now, I believe that ’s 
all we will need for our adventure.” 

Joan nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I 
can’t see anything else that we really 
need to take. But, Jock, how are we 
going to get out at midnight? All the 
doors are shut and locked at ten, as you 
know ; and then there ’s Harold, the 
watchman. Suppose he sees us ?” 

“Rats!” said Jock. “I’ve got all 
that planned. What we will have to do 
is this : Go to the kitchen and borrow a 
long piece of the clothesline ; then take it 
behind the gooseberry bushes and make 
big knots, about a foot apart, all down 
the length of it ; and when that ’s done,” 
said Jock, arising, and folding his arms 
across his chest, and scowling in the most 
ferocious manner, — “ and when that ’s 
done, we ’ll have a dandy rope ladder.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


15 


“ Oh! ” breathed Joan, as she gazed at 
him with admiration. “ You ’re the very 
cleverest boy in all the Land of Moon- 
dom ! Let ’s go and start the ladder this 
very minute ! ” 



The kitchen garden of the palace was, 
in its way, quite as delightful a spot as 
the regular garden ; for there were black- 
berry, raspberry, and gooseberry bushes, 
and funny old gnarled pear trees that 
looked as if they had a bad case of 
rheumatism, they were so twisted and 
bent. But for all that they had the 
sweetest, juiciest kind of yellow pears 
upon them ; and underneath these trees 
was stretched out a long row of white- 
washed beehives that the sunlight would 
mottle with quivering patches of gold 
as it slipped through the branches above. 
And even if the bees did make great 
holes in all of the pears that grew too 
fat to stay on their respective twigs and 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


17 


came kerplunking down into the grass 
beneath, why, it was perfectly all right, 
for you could shake the tree, and, as soon 
as a new pear fell, you could snatch it 
up before the bees could get their eyes 
focussed upon it ; for the eyes of bees 
are on the tops of their heads, and they 
have to do a lot of bowing before they 
see the ground. 

Out in the center of the garden were 
the vegetables, all kinds, row upon row. 
To one side of the vegetables, behind a 
hedge of sunflowers (why is it that sun- 
flowers are always put in the kitchen 
garden, and not with the flowers, where 
they naturally belong 1 ?), stretched the 
palace clothesline, with the royal family 
wash flapping to and fro in the breezes ; 
and it was to this clothesline that the 
twins, Jock and Joan, came running. 

“ Do you suppose there is enough slack 
rope left around the post to make the 
ladder?” anxiously queried Joan, as she 


18 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

and her brother halted beside one of the 
upright hickory beams that supported the 
clothesline. Jock nodded. 

“ I don’t think you need worry about 
that,” he said, “for it looks like more 
than enough to me. Now, I think you ’d 
better play sentinel and keep your eye 
well open for a glimpse of any of the 
gardeners, while I unwind it ; and you ’d 
better whistle if you see or hear any one 
coming.” 

The whistling was unnecessary, as not 
a sound disturbed the quiet of the garden 
but the flap of the rope, as it was rapidly 
unwound, and the continuous drone of 
the bees. 

Kerplunk ! The last loop of rope was 
unwound from the post, and Jock tri- 
umphantly called Joan’s attention to its 
length. 

“Just see what a long piece it is, — 
easily enough and to spare ! Here, Joan,” 
he continued, as he reached down into 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


19 


the pocket of his trousers and drew up 
his jackknife, “I want you to help me 
pull it just as tight as you can, so that 
I may be able to cut through it.” 

Joan pulled with all of her might, 
and so with much sawing and whacking 
the task was accomplished. Then they 
carried the rope back behind the goose- 
berry bushes and tied the knots down 
its whole length. This was rather a 
tedious undertaking ; but at last they 
were all finished. 

“Now,” said Joan, as the very end 
knot was pulled into place, and she and 
Jock cooled their hot and smarting hands 
in the damp grass, “ now, the next thing 
for us to do is to get together all of the 
things we intend to take with us and 
carry them up into your little room. I ’ll 
go after the biscuits and matches, while 
you smuggle up the ladder. And for good- 
ness’ sakes, don’t let anybody see you.” 

“ Oh, I’ll be careful,” said Jock, as 


20 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


he rolled the ladder up as small as he 
possibly could and slipped it under his 
shirt. “ And I expect you’d better come 
up the back stairs after you get the things, 
for they ’re ’most always deserted at this 
time of the day.” 

The twins stole silently into the palace 
and there separated, — J oan made for the 
pantry, while Jock, murmuring to him- 
self, “The plot thickens!” tiptoed through 
the long corridors and up the winding 
flight of back steps that led into the 
turret, where his and Joan’s rooms were 
side by side. No sooner had he reached 
his room, and taken the ladder from 
under his shirt, than Joan joined him 
with a tin of biscuits in one hand and a 
box of safety matches in the other. 

“ Have any trouble getting them ? ” 
asked Jock, when they had softly closed 
the door. He tiptoed over to the bed, 
lifted a corner of the mattress, and 
flattened the ladder out upon the springs. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


21 


“ No ; not a bit ; it was just as easy as 
anything. The pantry key was stuck 
in the door, fortunately ; and not a soul 
in sight. Where shall I put them ? 
Under the mattress, too ? ” 

Jock shook his head. “No; they'd 
make a hump that would show,” he said. 
“ Give 'em here, and I 'll chuck them 
behind the washstand. That 's a per- 
fectly safe place, for no one ever thinks 
of looking behind there, unless the soap 's 
fallen down, or my toothbrush.'' 

It 's high time for me to describe what 
kind of palace the royal palace of Moon- 
dom was. To begin with, it was very 
big, and was made of rough brown and 
gray stone ; it had any number of great 
towers and turrets built up at the most 
unexpected places ; and it was in the very 
tiptop of one of these turrets that the 
twins had their rooms. When they had 
grown too large to remain longer in the 
royal nursery, their mother, the Queen, 


22 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

had herself selected these two little rooms 
and supervised their painting and paper- 
ing, one in pink and the other in blue. 
When this had been completed to her 
entire satisfaction, she had made a long 
tour to all the shops in the surrounding 
town, and finally had selected two small 
sets of furniture with birds and flowers 
painted upon them. She also bought 
some nice new rugs and curtains and 
cushions to match. 

When all of these articles had been put 
in place, she had called the twins to her 
and presented the pink room to Joan, and 
the blue room to J ock, telling them that 
she hoped that they would take some 
pride in these lovely rooms which she had 
given them, and that they would try to 
be more orderly than they had been 
before ; which they both promised to do. 

Joan did keep her room very orderly. 
She pasted picture postcards in a long 
line all around the wall and made a great 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


23 


string of roseberries to drape over her 
mirror ; and she would dust and arrange 
the articles on her bureau just exactly 
right every morning. 

But Jock’s room didn’t look quite so 
well, because he would insist upon keep- 
ing all his shoes upon the mantelpiece. 
He said they never got lost when they 
were up there. And as for his mirror, it 
was unfortunately cracked from top to 
bottom, in consequence of his having put 
a lighted candle too close beside it one 
night. And then the teeth were always 
coming out of his comb, and his clothes 
hooks had a queer way of working loose 
from behind the door; and then they 
would have to be put in another place, 
which left horrid holes that were n’t good 
for anything. I ’m sadly afraid that Jock 
was n’t quite as careful as J oan. 

Jock rolled the washstand out a little 
way from the wall, and the twins col- 
lected the various articles they had 


24 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


planned to take with them on their 
journey, — the hatchet and cap-pistol, 
their collapsible drinking cups, the biscuit 
tin, and matches. When these were all 
stacked in a neat little pile on the floor, 
and the washstand pushed before them, 
Joan asked: 

“ What can we do now ? ” 

“Not a thing,” said Jock, “except keep 
awake till midnight, watch for Harold to 
pass beneath the window, and pass on to 
the other side of the palace. You know 
what a long time it always takes him to 
go the whole way around.” 

“Yes,” whispered Joan excitedly. 
“ What next ? ” 

“ Why, as soon as he ’s out of sight,” 
said Jock, “well tie one end of the 
ladder to my bedpost and then drop the 
other out of the window. Next, we 11 
crawl down it to the ground. See how 
easy everything is going to be. You 
won’t be a bit afraid, will you ? ” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


25 


Joan looked rather solemn. “No,” 
she said, “ not really afraid ; and Father 
does want the Crystal Ball so very 
much.” 

“ Good girl,” said Jock, patting her on 
the shoulder. “ I thought you might be 
growing shaky. But you must n’t have a 
bit of fear ; just remember, I ’ll be on 
hand to protect you.” As he finished 
speaking a bell sounded. “ Ding-dong, 
ding-dong, dang ! ” 

“ Oh,” said Joan. “ There ’s the 
schoolroom bell. Now, we ’ll have to 
go down to our stupid lessons.” As they 
hastened down the steps and through the 
halls that led to the schoolroom of the 
palace, Jock whispered : 

“ If we can get time, we might look 
up the Garden of the Sun in the big atlas 
and find out the shortest road to get 
there.” 

It seemed to the twins that the morn- 
ing dragged out its length more slowly 


26 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


than usual, and that the letters in the 
copy book looked more careless and un- 
even than their brothers on the preced- 
ing pages. Also, the sums on the slates 
refused to add up in a proper manner and 
needed a great deal of coaxing before 
they would fall into line ; and even the 
twins’ drawing lesson, which was usually 
considered a refreshing break in the mo- 
notony, was to-day only a tiresome waste 
of time. Yet all things come to an end 
sooner or later, and at last the lessons 
were completed. Their governess had 
stacked the books together and was 
putting them away, when Jock asked 
her to leave out the big atlas so that 
they might look up a place that they 
were interested in ; to this she readily con- 
sented and then left them to themselves. 

No sooner had the door closed behind 
her than the twins pounced upon the 
atlas and commenced searching through 
its pages. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


27 


“ Oh, here we are!” cried Jock, put- 
ting his finger on a round yellow spot 
in the green country of Moondom. “See, 
written right across it is The Garden of 
the Sun . Now, we must look for our 
palace. It must be around here some- 
where.” They hunted diligently for a 
few moments and then unanimously 
called out, “ Here it is ! ” 

“ Had n’t we better look on the back of 
the page, where the writing is, and see 
if it gives any directions ? ” suggested 
Joan. She turned the page over and 
commenced to read slowly and carefully. 
When she had read almost to the end 
of the page, she found what she was 
looking for. 

Full Directions To Get to the Garden 
of the Sun : Go first to the East , and 
then to the West , and keep on till you get 
there. 

“ That ’s easy enough to remember,” 
said Jock. “First to the East, and then 


28 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


to the West, and keep on till we get 
there. See, I ’ve learnt it already.” 

“So have I,” said Joan; and she 
caught her skirts in both hands and 
spun around three times, just like a top. 
“And oh, Jock! Let’s take Father’s 
compass with us. He won’t need it until 
we get back, and we will.” 

“ That ’s a first-rate idea,” said her 
brother. “ I wonder I did n’t think of it 
myself. Suppose I run and get it right 
away. It stays in the second drawer of 
Father’s desk, does n’t it ? ” 

Joan nodded. “ Yes,” she said. “ But 
if you can’t find it there, look in the 
pocket of his brown hunting jacket, and 
you ’ll find it there, I ’m sure.” 

Jock found the compass in the desk, 
and after he and Joan had tired of carry- 
ing it around the schoolroom, so as to see 
the needle turn to the North, they carried 
it up to Jock’s little room, and hid it be- 
hind the washstand with the other things. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


29 


All was complete now for the great ad- 
venture. Oh, how the twins’ cheeks 
burned, and their eyes sparkled, at the 
thrilling thought, “ If midnight would 
only hurry and come ! ” 

As I have already told you, the hours 
in the fair Kingdom of Moondom were 
told by sun and moon dials alone. Now, 
it was one of the duties of Harold, the 
palace watchman, when on his rounds at 
night, to ring a silver cowbell and call, 
“ So many hours to (or after) midnight, 
and all ’s well ! ” It was only at dark 
that this was necessary, for in the day- 
time you could run out and see the dial 
for yourself, — the sundial, I mean, which 
is never out of order and always keeps 
perfect time ; for in the fair and prosper- 
ous Kingdom of Moondom, the weather 
is always sunny, even when it rains. In- 
deed, I believe that it is sunniest then, 
because everything grows so shiny and 
sparkling that it is like having millions 


30 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


of tiny little suns, instead of just one big 
one. And oh, yes, there is a moon every 
night; usually the big one, but some- 
times he wants to take a holiday, and so 
sends one of his slim little daughters to 
brighten up the countryside instead. 
Therefore you see that sun and moon 
dials were a great deal more satisfactory 
than clocks or watches could ever have 
been. 

The shadow on the sundial had shifted 
slowly but surely around. Dinner and 
supper had come and gone, and the 
twins’ bedtime had drawn near. They 
felt very solemn as they gave their father 
and mother an extra good bear-hug and 
kiss, and went up-stairs with their lighted 
candles. As they reached Joan’s door 
(her room came first), Jock whispered : 

“Say, Joan, you’ll keep awake all 
right, won’t you ? ” 

“ Of course I will,” she whispered back 
indignantly. “ I could n’t go to sleep if 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


31 


I tried. And oh, Jock, don’t you think 
that we ’d better keep all of our clothes 
on?” 

“ By all means,” responded Jock, “ and 
you had better tell yourself a story to 
pass the time away. That is what I in- 
tend to do.” 

Joan shook her head. “ No, I ’d lots 
rather think about the Crystal Ball,” she 
said, as she slipped into her room. “ And 
so, good night for the present ” ; and the 
door closed. 



Twice had Harold the watchman 
passed with heavy tread beneath the 
tower where Jock and Joan lay listen- 
ing ; and twice had the silver cowbell 
rung out, first two hours, and then one 
hour to midnight. And now the palace 
was perfectly still, with not a sound or a 
light anywhere. 

Joan crept cautiously from her bed and 
fumbled in the dark until her hands 
touched her little blue velvet cape, 
which she had previously folded with 
care and hung over the chair that stood 
at her bedside. Throwing it about her 
shoulders, and tying the ribbons that 
drew it together at the throat, she stole 
softly to the door and quietly turned the 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 33 

knob. It was then only a second before 
she was feeling her way with both hands 
along the smooth plastered wall. Ah ! 
here was the frame of Jock’s door, and 
now the knob ! She pushed the door 
open and found her brother perched upon 
the edge of his bed in a flood of silver 
moonlight that came through the partly 
opened window shutters. She had opened 
the door so silently that he was un- 
aware of her presence until she whis- 
pered, “ Is n’t it ’most time for us to start 
out ? ” 

Jock gave a little jump. “Why, 
hello ! ” he said. “ You must have come 
through the wall like a fairy. And 
you ’re right on time, too, for it ’s just a 
little tiny while now before Harold the 
watchman comes around again; and in 
the meantime we ’ll get our things out 
from behind the washstand and tie them 
all up tight in this.” As he finished 
speaking, he reached down into his 


34 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


trousers pocket and brought out an 
enormous red bandanna handkerchief. 

“ Why, where did you get that ? ” 
asked Joan. “ I never saw it before.” 

Jock held the handkerchief out before 
her and looked at it admiringly. “Of 
course, you have n’t,” he said, “ for I only 
traded it this afternoon from one of the 
stableboys.” 

“It’s beautiful,” said Joan. “What 
did you have to give him for it ? Much ? ” 

“ Oh, no,” said Jock. “ Only my 
mouth-organ, and two of Father’s cigars, 
— the big kind, you know. I knew that 
this bandanna handkerchief,” he con- 
tinued, “would be the very best sort of 
thing to carry our supplies in ; and so I 
got it.” 

He spread it out upon the foot of his 
bed, and he and Joan placed the tin of 
biscuits, the matches, and the two drink- 
ing cups upon it. The hatchet and cap- 
pistol were omitted. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


35 


“ Are n’t we going to take the arms ? ” 
asked Joan anxiously, as she saw her 
brother lay them to one side. 

“ You bet we shall,” said Jock. “But 
we won’t want them tied up, for we 
might need them any moment ; and if we 
should need them we must be able to 
get at them with just a second’s notice.” 
He picked up the compass. “Would 
you like to carry this h ” he asked. 

“I should love to,” said Joan, with a 
smile ; and she put out an eager hand to 
take it. 

“Wait a bit,” said Jock, reaching again 
into his pocket, and this time drawing 
out a long piece of string, which he tested 
the strength of by one or two vigorous 
jerks. “ I ’m going to run this string 
through the ring that ’s at the top of the 
compass,” he said, “ and then you can 
hang it around your neck.” It was no 
sooner said than done ; and Joan tiptoed 
to the mirror to see the effect. 


36 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ It ’s just like a necklace,” she said, 
turning her head first to one side and 
then to the other. “I’m so glad you ’re 
going to let me carry it.” 

“ I ’ll promise you,” said Jock, who 
was busily tightening up the buckle of 
his belt and pushing the hatchet and cap- 
pistol into it, “ that you may carry it the 
whole way, going and coming.” Sud- 
denly he held up his hand. “ Sh-sh-sh ! ” 
he whispered. “Not a sound, — for here 
comes Harold the watchman.” 

The twins crept to the window and 
looked out. Yes, there came Harold the 
watchman, tramping serenely around his 
beat. 

“Now,” murmured Jock, when the 
watchman had passed under the window 
where the children were breathlessly 
watching, “now we must be quick. You 
tie up the corners of the bandanna hand- 
kerchief while I get our rope ladder 
securely fastened to my bedpost.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


37 


Joan’s fingers worked nimbly ; and in 
a surprisingly short time the four corners 
of the handkerchief were successfully 
knotted. Poor Jock was having a great 
deal harder time with the ladder, for the 
rope was quite stiff and hard to tie ; and 
even when at last it was attached to the 
bedpost and thrown out through the win- 
dow, it was found to be not quite long 
enough to reach the ground. 

“ Oh, what shall we do ! ” moaned 
Joan, wringing her hands, as she and 
Jock leaned out across the window sill 
and gazed at the ladder which swung 
some two feet above the earth. 

“ I don’t suppose we could jump that 
distance ? ” queried Jock. 

Joan gave a little shiver. “No,” she 
said. “I’m afraid not ; and even if we 
did, the noise we would make would 
surely wake some one, and then every- 
thing would be completely ruined.” 

Clang! Clang! The stillness of the 


38 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


night was shattered by the peal of the 
silver cowbell, and Harold the watchman’s 
lusty call of “ Midnight, and all ’s well ! ” 
“ We ’ll have to hurry now,” whispered 
Jock. “Remember that it was at mid- 
night that we planned to start. Don’t 
you suppose that we could jump quietly ? ” 
and he crawled out upon the window sill. 
Joan caught him by the arm and drew 
him back into the room. 

“Wait!” she commanded. “I have 
an idea. If we shove the bed nearer the 
window, I believe the ladder will be quite 
long enough to reach the ground.” 

“ Why, of course it will ! ” cried the 
delighted Jock. “ I wonder I did not 
think of that before.” And he and Joan 
set to work to silently push the bed up as 
close to the window as they could. 

Now, it was only some four or five min- 
utes before the twins were safely upon 
the ground; the bandanna handkerchief 
filled with their supplies had been firmly 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


39 


held between Jock's teeth, and so he was 
enabled to use both hands in the descent 
down the knotted rope. How jubilant 
the children felt at the success of this, 
their first step towards the Crystal Ball. 

“ We're off at last!" laughed Jock; 
and he started to run towards the high- 
way that passed in front of the royal 
palace as fast as his legs could carry him. 
Joan came panting along at his heels. 
She hoped to goodness they would n’t 
have to keep this pace up all the way. 

After they had crossed the palace lawn 
and slipped through the stone balustrade 
that bordered it, and so out upon the 
highway, Jock changed his run to a trot. 

“ Don't everything look queer at mid- 
night ? " he asked Joan in a low whisper ; 
for although they were now outside the 
palace grounds and beyond the chance of 
being overheard, the black stillness of the 
air seemed to quiver with unseen ears, 
and every shadow looked as though at 


40 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

the least sound it would awake and give 
chase. 

“Oh, so queer!” murmured Joan. 
“Even the trees and bushes seem twice 
as big as usual ; and as for the palace, it 
looks like a regular mountain. Suppose 
you let me hold your hand. Is n’t it 
quiet ? Hi-ho ! I wonder how long it ’s 
going to take us to find the Garden of 
the Sun 1 ” 

Jock took her hand in his and gave it 
a reassuring squeeze. “ Only a very few 
days,” he said. “You don’t suppose 
Harold the watchman will notice our 
ladder the next time he goes past on his 
rounds, do you ? There was n’t any way 
to remove it.” 

“ Oh, no, I ’m sure he won’t,” said 
Joan. “ It ’s in the shadow, you know. 
Are n’t you getting hungry ? I’m al- 
most starved. But I don’t suppose we ’d 
better eat any of the biscuits before morn- 
ing, had we ? ” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


41 


Jock considered the question seriously. 
“No,” he said, “although I ’m hungry 
enough to eat a roasted elephant, I don’t 
think that we ought to stop long enough 
at present to get the biscuit tin open. If 
we get very much hungrier, I suppose 
we will have to, so as to keep up our 
strength.” 

“Oh, well,” said Joan, and she smiled 
at the thought of a roasted elephant, 
“ I ’m not so terribly hungry, after all. I 
just remembered that we had the bis- 
cuits ; and that was what made me want 
them.” 

The twins were now trotting hand-in- 
hand along the broad moonlit highway ; 
past clover fields and orchards, past mead- 
owlands and vineyards, up hill and down 
dale. Nowhere was there a sign or 
sound of life. The very fireflies, who 
had been having a lawn party earlier in 
the evening, had blown out their lanterns 
and gone home to bed ; while the cricket 


42 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


orchestra, when they found the f§te en- 
tirely over had decided to take a half- 
holiday, and retired too. 

Did you ever see a firefly lawn party ? 
It is one of the prettiest sights imagi- 
nable. First you T1 hear the crickets tun- 
ing up ; and then they ’ll all start fiddling 
away together, as hard as they can go. 
Then you ’ll see the grass begin to sparkle 
and shine just like a sky full of stars, and 
then the fireflies will come sailing up 
from the grass, with all their lanterns lit. 

They ’ll fly about a foot above the 
ground; then suddenly, all the lanterns 
go out together, and you can’t see where 
any of the fireflies are ; and so you wait 
patiently for a few seconds and then all 
the little lanterns begin to blaze about a 
yard higher up than they were when you 
last saw them ; and they ’ll keep on doing 
this until they are so high up in the air 
that you can’t watch more than one or 
two of them at a time. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


43 


On and on rolled the gray, moon- 
drenched road ; and on and on toiled the 
twins. 

“ Oh,” sighed Joan. “ How long do 
we have to keep to the highway ? I’m 
sure we ’ve walked a great many miles in 
it already.” 

“I don’t know,” responded Jock. “As 
you know, the directions to the Garden 
of the Sun were : First to the East and 
then to the West , and keep on till you get 
there. We Ve been going to the East 
all the way so far; and I suppose there 
will be a forked road or something by 
which we can know when it is time for us 
to change to the West.” 

And so there was. Just over the crest 
of the next hill they came in sight of a 
twisted, winding pathway that branched 
off the main road to the left. 

“Look!” shouted Jock. “There’s 
where we turn right now, and I ’m cer- 
tainly glad of it.” He quickened his pace. 


44 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ So am I,” said Joan, — “ especially 
glad,” she continued, “ because daylight 
will soon be here, and then people in 
wagons will be passing along this high- 
way, whereas that path looks as if it 
had n’t had any one on it for years.” 

The path was very narrow, and at 
times the twins would have to walk single 
file, for there were a great many bushes 
and little trees that thickly bordered its 
sides. The children, who had now walked 
quite a long distance upon its winding 
way and were entirely out of sight of the 
highroad, suddenly came to a stop ; at 
least Jock, who was leading at the mo- 
ment, did. Joan, who was just a step 
behind him, almost tumbled over his 
heels. 

“ Why, what ’s the matter?” she gasped. 
“ Do you see anything ? Don’t you think 
we ’d better shoot the cap-pistol, so as to 
frighten it away? ” 

“ Ha-ha! ” laughed Jock at her terror. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 45 

“ There is n’t anything to frighten away, 
unless you think these bushes can run. 
I ’m very glad to say they can’t, for I ’ve 
just discovered that they ’re fairly covered 
with blackberries, and I think it’s just 
about time for us to have some refresh- 
ments, don’t you ? ” He smiled inquir- 
ingly at Joan. “What do you say?” he 
continued. 

“I say Hooray!” laughed Joan, “for 
I ’m hollow all the way up to my 
chin.” 

She caught a spray of one of the nearer 
bushes and drew it towards her, so as to 
examine it more thoroughly and see if it 
was really and truly a blackberry bush. 
Jock interrupted her just as she had made 
the fact plain by cramming a handful of 
the juicy fruit into her mouth. 

“ Here, you must wait a moment ! ” he 
commanded, “until we get out the folding 
drinking cups, and stretch them just as big 
as they will go, and then fill them up to 


46 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


the top with berries. We must also get 
out some of our biscuits from the tin.” 

“Oh, goody! We’ll have a regular 
feast!” exclaimed Joan. “I’m sure the 
biscuits are good, and as for the berries, 
they ’re the very sweetest, plumpest, juici- 
est ones I ’ve ever tasted.” 

Jock knelt down upon the path, with 
the bandanna handkerchief before him, 
and slowly untied the knots, which were 
quite tight and took a good deal of tug- 
ging and pulling before they would open. 
As he lifted out one of the cups and 
handed it to J oan, he said : 

“ Let ’s see which will get ours full first.” 

“ You mean a race?” asked Joan. 

“Yes,” he nodded, and slowly com- 
menced chanting: 

“ One for the money , 

And two for the show ; 

Three to make ready , 

And four for to go” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


47 


At the word “ Go” both children began 
picking the blackberries and dropping 
them into their little cups as fast as 
they possibly could. They found the 
task an easy one, for the fruit grew very 
thick on the branches, and the moon- 
light made things almost as visible as 
day. 

“ Hip-hip-hooray ! I’ve won ! ” shouted 
Joan exultantly, as she balanced an es- 
pecially large berry upon those already 
stacked up above the rim of her cup. 
“ Not a single other one can go in.” 

Jock took her cup and looked at it 
critically. “ Yes, you’ve won,” he ad- 
mitted ; “ but you did n ’t win by a very 
big win, for my cup is almost as full as 
yours. It just needs about a dozen more 
berries to make them look just alike.” He 
opened the biscuit tin and took out four 
biscuits, — two apiece. 

“We must n’t eat them all at once,” he 
said, as he fastened the lid back upon the 


48 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


box. Then he and J oan spread the ban- 
danna handkerchief out carefully upon the 
ground for a tablecloth and seated them- 
selves at either side. 

“ Is n’t this fun?” asked Joan, as she 
munched a biscuit. “ Just like a picnic,” 
she continued, dipping into her cup of 
blackberries. 

“ Great!” agreed Jock, “but it’s lots 
finer than a picnic. It ’s an Adventure ; 
that ’s what it is,” and he split one of his 
biscuits open and put half a dozen berries 
into it. Then, holding it up for Joan’s in- 
spection, he announced : 

“ That ’s a new kind of jam ; why 
don’t you try it?” He took a big bite, 
— “For it’s very good,” he mumbled 
with, I’m sorry to confess, a rather full 
mouth. Joan did try the new kind of 
jam and found it delicious. 

“ Now that we have finished the main 
course,” she said, as she turned her cup 
upside down to show that not a single 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


49 


berry remained within it, “ we ’d better 
see about the dessert.” 

She and Jock arose and filled their 
cups once more with the fragrant fruit, 
which they then consumed for their 
dessert. And now that their hunger was 
perfectly satisfied, they decided that the 
very best thing for them to do would be 
to stretch themselves out on the soft turf 
that bordered the path and take a little 
rest before continuing their journey. 



The twins had lain dozing and looking 
up at the stars for almost an hour when 
Jock, patting his mouth to prevent a 
great yawn from escaping, sat up and 
said : 

“ If we don’t jump up and start walk- 
ing soon, we will both be so sound asleep 
that the robin redbreasts will think that 
they have found another pair of babes in 
the woods and cover us all over with 
blackberry leaves.” 

Joan laughed. “ I don’t see any robin 
redbreasts,” she said, as she shook the 
wrinkles out of her little cape and 
smoothed down the folds of her dress. 

“Of course you don’t now,” said Jock. 
“But you just wait till daylight, and then 



THE CRYSTAL BALL 


51 


1 11 bet this path will be fairly swarming 
with them.” 

The children found themselves very 
much refreshed with their small rest ; and 
when their supplies were again tied up in 
the bandanna handkerchief, and their feet 
were once more briskly trotting along the 
path, Joan, who was behind, suddenly 
gave a hop, a skip, and a jump, and 
caught her brother around the neck. 

“Ooo-oo-ooh!” gurgled Jock. “What’s 
the matter with you now ? Do you 
want to choke all the breath out of 
me?” 

“No; not all the breath,” laughed Joan. 
“ Only enough to stop you from walking 
until I can tell you something. It ’s this : 
I Ve got a dandy idea.” 

“Hump! ” said Jock. “ Let ’s hear it.” 

“We ought to have some staffs,” said 
Joan. “Now why can! you make us 
each a beautiful one out of two of these 
little saplings ? ” And she laid her hand 


52 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


upon one of the small trees that grew to 
the right and left of the path. 

Jock nodded his approval. “Why, 
that really is a splendid idea,” he said, 
as he dropped his bundle upon the 
ground and rummaged through his 
pockets in search of his jackknife. 
“ Which of the staffs do you want ? ” he 
asked Joan, as he opened the largest 
blade of his knife. “Just make your 
pick and show me, and in a moment it ’s 
yours.” 

Joan selected a straight, slim little sap- 
ling, without many twigs upon it, which 
J ock immediately began cutting ; and it 
was only a short time before she had a 
light, strong staff to help her on her jour- 
ney. He then made one for himself, a 
little bit heavier. 

“ I ’m so glad we thought of having 
staffs,” he said, as they started onwards 
again. “For they not only help us to 
walk, but all the people in the pictures in 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 53 

adventure books have staffs with them. 
You have noticed it, have n’t you? ” 

“ Yes ; lots of times,” said Joan. 

“ And another good reason for staffs,” 
continued Jock, “is that they would come 
in handy if we should meet any snakes.” 

Joan caught her breath in a little gasp 
and stopped perfectly still. 

“ Ugh ! ” she whispered. “ Do you 
suppose there can be any snakes hiding 
around here ? ” 

Jock laughed uproariously at her 
fright. “No, Goosey,” he said; “and 
if there were, I ’d show them a thing or 
two, so that they would be mighty glad 
to move on quick. I wonder if that can 
be a forest,” he continued, pointing with 
his staff to a dark line about half a mile 
distant. 

“Yes,” agreed Joan; “I’m sure it 
must be a forest, for what else could it 
be ? ” She peered through the gloom for 
some moments in silence and then asked, 


54 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ Can you see if the path runs all the 
way up to it ? ” 

Jock shook his head. “I believe it 
does,” he said, “ and yet it ’s too dark to 
see that positively. But morning will 
soon be here ; and then we 11 know. 
For look, how pale the stars are growing. 
Pale stars are a sure sign of morning.” 

“ I don’t believe they are so shiny as 
they were a while ago,” said Joan, when 
she had gazed up at them until she was 
beginning to have a crick in her neck. 
“ And then there ’s a big piece of gray 
over in the East; and so you must be 
right.” 

Dawn came faster than the twins could 
walk ; and long before they had reached 
the forest, — for forest the dark line 
proved to be, — the whole sky was 
colored like a big opal, pink and green, 
yellow, purple and blue. Joan was en- 
tranced with it. 

“I never, never saw such a beautiful 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


55 


sky in all my life,” she cried. “How I 
should love to have a dress made out of a 
little, tiny piece of it ! ” 

“ Oh, come on ! ” said Jock absent- 
mindedly. “You’ll get a sure-enough 
crick in your neck if you stand there gap- 
ing at the sky much longer ; and serve 
you right, too ! And besides that, I want 
to get to that forest and see if it is as big 
as it looks.” 

The forest was every bit as big as it 
looked ; and a great deal larger besides. 
It almost frightened the children when 
they had come near to its unending aisles 
of trees. 

“ Oh, Jock ! Will we have to go 
through all that to get to the Garden of 
the Sun 1 ” anxiously asked J oan. 

“ We most certainly will,” replied Jock. 
“For, as you see, the path goes right 
straight into it, and we must follow the 
path. There ’s nothing else for us to do.” 

“I suppose you ’re right,” sighed Joan. 


56 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

“But I don’t like it one little bit. It 
looks so very black and gloomy,” she 
continued, shaking her head ominously. 
“I suppose we must, for we ’ve been going, 
first to the East, and then to the West, 
and there ’s nothing left to do but to keep 
on till we get there. Hi-ho ! I wonder 
just how long that will be ? ” 

The path wound in and out among the 
trees as far as the eye could reach. As 
the twins walked farther and farther into 
the cool green glades of the great forest, 
they were amazed to notice how many 
birds were flying about, and how the air 
rang with the music of their various notes 
and the cheerful clatter of their chirping. 
In fact, the children lost the greater part 
of their fear of the big forest when they 
found it so thickly populated with the 
gay little warblers. 

“It must be a very jolly old forest, 
after all,” observed Joan, “ or the birds 
would n’t care to live here.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


57 


“Yes,” agreed Jock. “Do you sup- 
pose they make that much noise every 
morning, or do you think that we have 
frightened them ? Maybe they ’ve never 
seen twins before in all their lives.” 

“It isn’t that,” said Joan, “for I don’t 
believe they ’ve noticed us yet. It ’s just 
that they ’re so happy that morning ’s 
come, and being rather hungry, they ’re 
out foraging for their breakfast. Look, 
they all seem to be flying over beyond 
that clump of cedar trees. What do you 
imagine can be back there ? ” 

“ Let ’s go and see,” said J ock. “ That ’s 
the only way to find out.” 

The children ran over to the cedars 
and around them. Oh, my ! What a 
marvelous sight met their delighted eyes. 
There, at the foot of a great moss-covered 
boulder, sprang bubbling from the earth 
a crystal spring, that spread its waters 
out in shining circles within a fern- 
bordered basin of white sand. And in 


58 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


the very heart of this pool, ankle-deep 
in water, stood a beautiful deer, with her 
two little spotted fawns pressed close 
against her glossy sides, while on every 
tree, branch and bush clustered dozens 
and dozens of parti-colored birds of every 
imaginable species. 

The twins stood as if turned to stone, 
almost afraid to breathe for fear of star- 
tling them. They were so very still, in- 
deed, that the birds, who were making 
quite a noise among themselves, did not 
notice their appearance. But the deer 
turned her beautiful wild eyes upon them 
and gazed long and steadily. She then 
seemed to understand that she and her 
two fawns had nothing to fear from the 
children, and she quietly commenced 
drinking again the cool spring water. 

“ Oh ! It ’s so beautiful,” whispered 
Joan, in the littlest kind of a whisper ; 
“ it ’s all so wonderful that it makes me 
catch my breath.” 



THE DEER TURNED HER BEAUTIFUL WILD EYES UPON THEM AND 
GAZED LONG AND STEADILY. Page 58 . 






THE CRYSTAL BALL 


59 


Her brother nodded. “Yes,” he said. 
“ I know just how you feel. It ’s like 
seeing a circus.” 

Meanwhile the birds, who were teeter- 
ing up and down upon the branches, 
would flutter down, in twos and threes, to 
the edge of the pool, and dip their little 
beaks into the water. Then they would 
toss their heads backwards, and the twins 
could plainly see their soft throats pal- 
pitate as they swallowed. Then back 
they would fly to the surrounding trees ; 
but now and then a more enterprising 
songster than the rest would remain to 
take a morning bath in the shallower 
part of the pool. 

It seemed to the twins that they 
would never tire of watching the lovely 
sight; but by and by the deer and her 
spotted fawns had drunk their fill and 
so ran clattering out of sight among the 
trees. And then gradually the birds 
departed and left the children in com- 


60 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


plete and solitary possession of the 
stream. 

“ Now it ’s our turn to have a drink of 
water,” said Jock; and he commenced to 
untie the corners of the bandanna hand- 
kerchief, so as to get out their collapsible 
drinking cups. The water was so de- 
liciously cool and sweet that the twins 
drank two or three cups full apiece, and 
then, when their thirst was entirely 
quenched, and they had washed their 
faces and hands and dried them upon 
Joan’s petticoat, they seated themselves 
comfortably upon the moss and ferns at 
the edge of the spring and made a hearty 
breakfast of biscuits. 

“ I know what I ’m going to do now,” 
announced Joan, as the last crumb of 
her third biscuit disappeared into her 
mouth, — “I’m going wading.” She 
commenced pulling off her shoes and 
stockings. 

“ Oh, that ’ll be fun,” cried Jock. He 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 61 

commenced tugging and jerking at the 
lacings of his boots. 

“ Whee-ee-ee ! ” The water felt cold ! 
It drove little tickling shivers up the 
children’s backs, which caused them to 
squeal and laugh a great deal. They 
splashed around and around and made 
the soft white sand at the bottom of the 
pool ooze up between their toes. Oh! 
How good it felt! 

When they were about tired of this 
amusement, they chanced to spy an old 
crawfish, who was disappearing into his 
hole beneath the big rock; so they got 
twigs and poked and prised at him, in a 
vain endeavor to make him come out 
and be sociable. But, strange to relate, 
the more they poked, the farther back 
into his hole he would creep, until at last 
he was entirely out of sight. Then the 
twins dried their feet and put on their 
shoes and stockings; and now, feeling 
as fresh as daisies, they picked up their 


62 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

staffs and bundle and once more resumed 
their journey. 

“ Do you know,” said Jock, as he 
kicked at the dried leaves that bestrewed 
their path, — “ do you know that I be- 
lieve some one must have been along 
this pathway recently? I mean, some 
time in the last day or so, because every 
now and then I spy a footprint.” 

“ Whereabouts are they?” asked Joan, 
looking hard at the ground. “I can’t 
see any.” 

“ You just wait a little bit,” responded 
Jock, “and I’ll point you out the very 
next one we come across.” 

They walked along in silence for some 
distance, with their eyes intent upon the 
path. 

“Are you sure you don’t see any foot- 
prints now?” at last asked Joan, as she 
prodded with her staff among the dried 
leaves and twigs. 

Jock shook his head. “No,” he said, 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


63 


“ not a single one since I first spoke to 
you about them. But we will surely 
come to one soon, so keep a sharp watch- 
out.” 

It looked as if Jock must have been 
mistaken in his surmise, for the twins 
carefully surveyed the path, as they 
trudged along, for over an hour, and 
found not the slightest sign that any 
human foot but theirs had come that 
way. 

Then, losing interest in footprints, they 
amused themselves by watching and com- 
menting on the various antics of the red 
and gray squirrels that abounded in the 
great forest and in noticing the different 
wild flowers as they passed. Joan had 
begun to gather herself a large bouquet 
of these before she recalled the fact that 
her two shiny blue china vases with green 
and gold bands painted on them were re- 
posing upon the mantelpiece of her snug 
little pink room 'way up in the tip-top 


64 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


turret of the royal palace of Moondom. 
So she decided to wait until she and Jock 
were returning home to gather her nose- 
gay- 

For Joan was a thoughtful little girl, 
who was always in the habit of putting 
her flowers in water as soon as she had 
plucked them, so that they might keep 
fresh and bright for a long time, — which 
I think is a great deal kinder way to treat 
flowers you have had the pleasure of 
gathering than to lay them on some bench 
or walk, and then forget all about them 
until they have lost all their beauty, 
and you don’t care to own them any 
longer. 

Sometimes the twins would stop to 
rest and eat some of the blackberries that 
grew in great profusion on every side ; 
and in this manner the miles slipped 
rapidly behind. They found that the 
farther the winding path carried them 
into the great forest, the cooler and damper 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


65 


the air became ; and Joan drew the folds 
of her little blue velvet cape more snugly 
about her shoulders. 

“ Whee-ee ! ” she said, pretending to 
shiver, — “Whee-ee! We’ll certainly 
have to build us a fire to-night, if it keeps 
on growing so chilly, and a big one at 
that.” 

“ Indeed, we shall,” agreed Jock. “ But 
I had intended to make one anyway, 
whether it was cold or not, for protection 
from wild beasts, and then, because we 
have brought the matches and hatchet 
along for that purpose, and it would be a 
great pity not to use them.” 

“ Night must be a long time off,” said 
Joan. “Don’t you wish we could find 
another spring I’m getting rather 
thirsty. Are n’t you too ? ” 

“ Getting ! ” cried Jock. “ Well, I 
should say so ! And as for night being 
so very far away, you ’re quite mistaken. 
It must be at least five in the afternoon, 


66 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


for just think of the miles and miles and 
miles we have walked since daylight.” 

“So we have,” agreed Joan. “And 
besides, just think of the biscuits and ber- 
ries we have eaten in that time.” 

Jock laughed. “ I ’m sure I Ve eaten 
at least two quarts of blackberries and 
five or six biscuits,” he said, “ and so 
have you. Don’t attempt to deny it ! ” 
Joan giggled. “I know I have,” she 
said. “ I do believe you ’re right about 
the time of day,” she continued. “For it 
does look as if ’t was growing a tiny bit 
darker every minute.” 

And so it was. The thick foliage of 
the trees prevented any ray or gleam of 
sunlight from ever entering this part 
of the great forest, so that the dim at- 
mosphere of twilight hung about it at all 
times, even at the sunny hours of mid- 
day. And so, as soon as twilight began 
in the outside world, the great forest 
would become pitch black. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


67 


“ Whee-ee! But it growing dark,” 
exclaimed Jock. “ I don’t believe we’ll 
be able to go much farther on our jour- 
ney this night. Don’t you think we ’d 
better stop now and build our camp fire ? 
Or would you rather that we should go 
on a little farther, in hopes of finding 
some water?” 

Joan reached out in the gloom and 
caught hold of her brother’s hand. 
“ Let ’s keep on,” she said, “ for I never 
was so thirsty for a cup of water in the 
whole of my life.” 



The children groped their way along 
the path as best they could. But they 
found it a very slow and difficult under- 
taking in the dark ; for now and then 
they would trip over a broken branch, or 
stumble among some twisted roots of the 
large trees that writhed over the ground. 
At such times Jock would have to strike 
one of the safety matches that they had 
brought with them, so as to see that they 
were still upon the path. 

“I don’t believe we are making very 
much progress,” he said, as he lit a match 
to see what object it was that he had just 
stubbed his toe upon. “We are not only 
making little progress, but we are using 
up the matches entirely too rapidly. For 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


69 


if we keep on like this, we won’t have 
any left by midnight ; and then,” he con- 
tinued, “we might journey all night and 
not find any water, after all. So what 
do you say to our giving up until morn- 
ing and making us a grand big camp fire 
instead ? ” 

For answer, Joan jerked his hand. 
“Just look over there,” she cried ex- 
citedly, “ ’way far off. Can’t you see 
that some one else has already built a 
camp fire for the night?” 

They stood and silently gazed through 
the thick dark at the twinkling spot of 
light that shone like some bright, fallen 
star in the depth of the great forest, not 
so very far away. 

“ I believe it is a camp fire,” said Jock 
at last. “Yes, it must be a camp fire. 
So suppose we go and investigate, to find 
out for certain.” 

“Oh, no, — don’t let's do that,” said 
Joan, — “because the camp fire might 


70 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


belong to bandits or gypsies. And if it 
did belong to bandits and gypsies, what 
could we do? We would certainly get 
lost or separated in the dark if we tried 
to run away, and if we stayed there we 
might be kidnapped. And so I think the 
best thing for us to do is to remain right 
here where we are and build up a dear 
little camp fire all to ourselves.” And 
Joan seated herself deliberately upon a 
blasted tree-trunk and commenced beat- 
ing a tattoo with her heels against its 
side. 

“Don’t start to be a silly,” cried Jock, 
catching her by both hands and drawing 
her to her feet again. “ You know per- 
fectly well there aren’t any bandits in 
the fair Kingdom of Moondom, and as 
for gypsies, — well, what if it is a gypsy 
camp ? You most certainly are n’t afraid 
of any old gypsies, when you have me 
along to protect you. I should like to 
see any old gypsy that could frighten me. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


71 


Besides,” he continued, “we are lots too 
big to be kidnapped, anyway.” 

“Oh, you Ye so brave,” said Joan ad- 
miringly. “ Are you really and truly 
sure that we are too big for kidnapping? 
Or are you only saying that so as to keep 
me from being afraid ? ” 

“ ‘ Real and true, 

Black and blue, 

Lay me down, and cut me in two ! 9 

if it is n’t so ! ” said Jock. “ Come on, — 
let ’s hurry ! We 11 soon be over by the 
fire.” 

As the twins drew nearer and nearer to 
the light, they saw that it was in the shape 
of a square. 

“Why, I don't believe it ’s a gypsy 
camp, after all,” said Jock, in a rather 
disappointed tone. 

“ Nor I,” said Joan. “ It looks to me 
more like the window of a house with the 
shutters open. And, oh, I ’m so glad ! ” 


72 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


she laughed, clapping her hands with 
glee, and hastening her footsteps as much 
as the dark would permit. 

“ I can’t see what you ’re so glad 
about,” grumbled Jock. “ Gypsies would 
have been lots more of an adventure, and 
so much fun to tell about when we get 
home.” 

Joan laughed again. “I don’t care 
about that,” she said. “ I ’m just as 
glad as glad can be that it ’s a house, 
for now we ’ll be able to get some 
water, and maybe the people that the 
house belongs to will let us sleep there 
all night.” 

They stepped out into a small clearing 
among trees and found themselves facing 
a tiny little log cottage, frosted with 
moonlight and wrapped about with 
honeysuckle and trumpet-vines, which 
were a haven for humming birds in the 
daylight hours, and also with roses. 

The twins were delighted with every- 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


73 


thing about it, from the big flat rock that 
made the doorstep to the bits of red clay 
that puttied up the cracks between the 
logs. 

“ It ’s the darlingest house I Ve ever 
seen,” cried Joan, as her gaze focussed 
upon the moss-covered roof, and she spied 
a bird-box cozily tucked in the crevice by 
the chimney. “ When I get big, and go 
to housekeeping, I ’m going to have one 
exactly like it, with a great forest all 
about it ; and I ’ll have just enough trees 
cut away to let in the moonlight.” 

“ Oh, no, you won’t,” said Jock. 
“ When you ’re big, you ’ll have to marry 
some king or prince, and I ’d like to see 
him coming out in the woods to live in a 
log cabin.” 

Joan sighed, for she saw the wisdom of 
this remark. “I’m getting very tired, at 
times, of this king-and-queen business,” 
she said. (My! Aren’t you glad you 
are n’t royal ? Now, if you want to build 


74 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


a beautiful log house in the forest, some 
day, no one can stop you.) 

“ 1 11 tell you what we will do now,” 
proposed Jock. “ Let’s creep under the 
window and peep in. Then we 11 know 
what sort of people live here and whether 
we are going to like them or not.” 

“Oh, no,” said Joan. “We mustn’t 
think of doing that. Peeping through 
windows is so very rude, you know. 
And then, I ’m sure that they must be 
lovely people, or they would n’t have such 
a beautiful house. So 1 11 go and knock 
at the door.” 

They stepped up on the stone door- 
step, and Joan rapped twice with her 
knuckles. Rap-tap-tap ! Rap-tap-tap ! 
For some moments there was no re- 
sponse. 

“Knock again,” ordered Jock. But 
before she could comply, click! open flew 
a small wooden panel, about three inches 
wide, which was inserted in the upper 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


75 


part of the door, and a pair of twinkling 
blue eyes behind horn-rimmed glasses 
looked out at the twins. Joan made a 
curtsy and Jock made a bow. “ Good 
evening! ” they said in unison. “ May we 
come in ? ” The eyes continued to gaze 
fixedly at them, but there was no re- 
sponse in return for their salutation. 

Joan edged up closer to her brother. 
“We are both awfully thirsty,” she said, 
“ and would be very much obliged to you 
for a cup of water.” 

The eyes suddenly crinkled up in the 
most friendly and delightful manner, and 
a chirpy, little bird-like voice said : 

“ My dears, you shall have something 
a great deal better than a cup of water.” 
And click ! the little panel slid once more 
across the opening. 

The twins waited expectantly, while 
they listened to the lifting of bars and 
the grating of a key as it was inserted in 
the lock. Then the door creaked on its 


76 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


hinges and swung wide open ; and stand- 
ing in the doorway, silhouetted against 
the glow of four or five lit candles, was 
the drollest little grandmother of an old 
lady that the children had ever seen. 
She was no taller than Jock, but a great 
deal plumper, quite roly-poly, in fact; 
her white hair, which was most elabo- 
rately curled and puffed, was drawn up 
on her head as high as possible in an en- 
deavor to add to her diminished height. 
She also wore heels at least two inches 
high to her shoes, for the same reason. 
Her cheeks were very pink and so was 
her chin ; while the eyes behind the 
horn-rimmed spectacles were, as you 
already know, of the kindest, twinkliest 
blue. Indeed, Jock and Joan instantly 
decided that they were the nicest blue 
eyes in the whole Kingdom of Moondom. 

The little old lady’s dress was a violet- 
colored lawn, figured over with large blue 
roses, and very much beruffled and be- 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 77 

flounced. In her hand she carried a 
turkey-tail fan, which she softly fluttered 
to and fro against her throat. 

The twins repeated their bow and 
curtsy, while Jock introduced first him- 
self, and then Joan, to the little old lady, 
saying : 

“ I am Prince Jock of Moondom, and 
this is my twin-sister, the Princess Joan.” 

The little old lady nodded. “ I ’m 
very glad to know you, my dears,” she 
said. “ Walk right in. I don’t suppose 
there are any more of you outside, are 
there ? ” she continued, as she drew them 
within the cottage and closed and barred 
the door. 

“ No,” said Jock. “ Just us two.” 

She then led the children over to a big 
open fireplace that took up almost one 
whole side of the room ; and dragging a 
large green settee out from the wall, 
pushed it, with Jock’s assistance, close up 
to the blaze. 


78 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“Now, my dears,” said the little old 
lady, as she gave various pokes and 
punches to the cushions that covered the 
hard oak frame of the bench, — “ now 
everything is comfy, so if you will just 
take a seat here and toast yourselves 
patiently for a few minutes, I’ll skurry 
around and see if I can’t find you some- 
thing to eat, — something delicious that 
you will really like to eat and drink.” 

“Oh, you mustn’t take so much trouble 
about us,” said Joan politely. “Any- 
thing will do.” 

The little old lady patted her on the 
cheek and smiled. 

“It is n’t often,” she said, “that I have 
the pleasure of guests, for my house is a 
bit out of the ordinary way of travelers. 
And so, my dears, don’t worry your heads 
about troubling me. Just realize that 
this is a joy and a red-letter day in my 
calendar.” 

She pushed open the door that led into 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


79 


a back room and disappeared. Soon the 
twins could plainly hear the rattling of 
plates and the opening and shutting of 
cupboard doors. 

“ Is n’t this a funny, darling little 
room?” whispered Joan, gazing about 
her at the many curious and interesting 
articles that were to be seen on every 
side. There were sea shells and bits of 
coral, both red and white, and strings of 
gayly colored birds’ eggs; then there 
were hideous Eastern idols — some of 
wood and some of clay — and a small 
white elephant, all carved out of ivory, 
except the very tips of his tusks which 
were brass ; and filling up the entire win- 
dow sill was a large glass aquarium, the 
bottom of which was filled with sand, 
small shells, and seaweed. It was indeed 
a most beautiful home for the half dozen 
goldfish who lived in it. Across the 
mantelpiece was suspended a row of brass 
and copper platters that caught and re- 


80 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


fleeted the blaze from the burning logs 
on the hearth. 

But by far the most charming object 
that met the roving eyes of the chil- 
dren — the one that drew them to their 
feet with a jump the moment they espied 
it — was a small wicker basket on rockers, 
lined with Turkey red flannel, and hold- 
ing in its depths a little brown monkey, 
sound asleep. The twins could hardly 
believe their sight, and so they tiptoed 
over to the basket to get a better view. 

Sure enough, it was a monkey! and 
would you believe it, a snoring one, at 
that! They were bending over it, in rapt 
admiration when their hostess came back 
into the room. 

“ I see you ’re making the acquaintance 
of my adopted son,” she laughed. “ But 
you must be very careful not to wake 
him up now, for he ’d be a great nuisance 
to get to sleep again.” She drew a little 
table up beside the settee and placed a 



SHE DREW A LITTLE TABLE UP BESIDE THE SETTEE AND PLACED A 
PLATTER OF GINGERBREAD AND TWO LARGE MUGS OF CIDER UPON IT. 

Page 80. 



































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THE CRYSTAL BALL 


81 


platter of gingerbread and two large 
mugs of cider upon it. 

“ Oh, how good that does look ! ” cried 
Jock, quickly scrambling back to his end 
of the bench. u Come on, Joan, let ’s 
start.” 

Joan needed no second bidding. She 
was seated beside her brother before he 
could unroll and spread upon his lap the 
fringy white napkin the little old lady 
had given him. My, but that ginger- 
bread and cider tasted good to the hun- 
gry children, who finished up every single 
crumb and drop ! 

“Now this is the time for us to get 
better acquainted,” said the little old 
lady, when she had removed the dishes 
and put the little table back against the 
wall where it belonged. She seated her- 
self beside the children and reaching out 
one of her tiny, high-heeled slippers, she 
gave a vigorous kick to the smoldering 
logs upon the hearth, which first started 


82 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


a flurry of sparks, and then a leaping 
blaze. 

“Now,” she continued, “we will have 
just time enough for a cozy little chat 
before bedtime. To begin with, I notice 
that you both seem interested in my 
various pretty things; for I could see you 
looking about the room from the pantry. 
You do like them, don’t you! ” 

“We most certainly do,” exclaimed 
the twins together. “ Where did you 
get them all from? Not from the fair 
Kingdom of Moondom, did you ? ” 

The little old lady smiled and shook 
her head. “ No,” she said, as she fanned 
herself gently with her turkey-tail fan, 
“my pretty things were all brought to 
me from foreign countries, over-seas, by 
my great big son, who is a sailor man 
and has sailed on many waters.” 

“ Is he sailing now ? ” eagerly asked 
Jock. “I should like to be a sailor and 
sail on many waters myself.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


83 


“ So would I,” repeated Joan. 

“ Rats ! ” said Jock. “ Girls can’t ever 
be sailors. Why, just think how scared 
you would be if you were a sailor on a 
ship, and one morning you woke up and 
saw a great big black pirate ship, with a 
pirate flag, all black except for a white 
skull and bones painted on it, waving 
from the top ; and saw it come sailing 
and sailing up towards you! Why, you 
know that you ’d be scared ’most to 
death, and wouldn’t know what to do 
at all.” 

Joan was silent. She had n’t thought 
of this part of a sailor’s life before. 

“Now I,” continued Jock, “would 
know just exactly what to do, and it 
would be this : I ’d wait until the pirate 
ship had sailed right up, as close as close 
could be, and then I’d throw my grap- 
pling irons — ” 

“What are they?” interrupted Joan. 

“ Why, they are the iron hooks that all 


84 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


good ships carry, so when they are going 
to have a battle with pirates they can 
throw them over on to the pirate ship’s 
side and so hook them up to the good 
ships; and in this way, they have them 
fastened so tight that the pirate ships 
can’t run away after the good ships 
have beaten them. Well, as I was say- 
ing, I should throw my grappling irons 
on to the pirate ship ; and when they 
were secure, and the pirates could n’t 
move an inch, I should give the order 
to man the guns, — which means to shoot 
off all the cannons. And then, when 
we had shot a great big hole in the pirate 
ship, I should demand that the pirate 
captain should surrender and deliver to 
me all of his fair prisoners and booty 
— or we should blow him up sky-high! 
That ’s what I ’d do, if I were a sailor, and 
it ’s really the right way to treat pirates, 
too,” he said, appealing to the little old 
lady. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 85 

She smiled and tickled his chin with 
her turkey-tail fan. 

“ Oh, you ’d make a fine brave sailor 
lad, no doubt,” she said. 

“Tell us some more about your sailor 
son,” demanded Joan. “ Did he give you 
your monkey ? ” 

“Yes, my dear, he gave me the monkey 
and all of the other things, too, a great 
many of which are in other parts of 
the cottage, and which I shall show you 
to-morrow. But as for the monkey,” 
continued the little old lady, “my son 
brought him to me the very last time he 
came ashore; and I can tell you I was 
amazed when he handed me a covered 
basket and said : ‘ Mother, now that you 
have n’t got me here in the house to 
plague you and make mischief, I have 
brought you an adopted son.’ And then 
he lifted the lid of the basket, and out 
popped the monkey; and he is, without 
doubt, as much trouble as a real baby 


86 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

to look after. But for all of that, I find 
that he is a great deal of company and 
companionship for me.” She smiled at 
the twins, who cuddled up closer against 
her. 

“ I wonder,” she asked, “ have you 
noticed that all of my cups and plates 
are of metal ? ” 

“ Yes,” nodded the children. “ Brass 
and copper, all of them.” 

“Well, the reason for that,” said the 
little old lady, and she laughed merrily, 
“ is that Gyp — that ’s the monkey’s 
name — broke all of my china ones the 
very first week that I received him. And 
so I had to make a journey to the nearest 
city and buy me a large supply of metal 
ones, which he can’t smash, no matter 
how he slings them about.” 

She laughed merrily at the recollection, 
and so did Jock. As for Joan, it may 
have been the gingerbread and cider, or 
it may have been the warm fire and the 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


87 


many miles she had walked that day, 
but her head slipped back against the 
soft cushions, and she went fast asleep. 

“No more talking to-night,” said the 
little old lady, as she jumped from the 
settee and bustled about the room to 
see that the doors and windows were 
securely locked. When she had finished, 
she turned to Jock, and said : 

“I can put your sister to bed on the 
couch in my own room, but as for you 
yourself, you will just have to curl up 
on the settee, the best way you can.” 
She slipped her arm around Joan and 
drew her to her feet, whispered a “ Good 
night ” to Jock, and, blowing out all 
the candles but one, which she carried 
with her and Joan into the next room, 
shut the door. 



Bright and early the following morn- 
ing the inmates of the forest cottage were 
awake and stirring. The windows and 
doors had been thrown wide open to ad- 
mit the fresh morning air, and the bright 
bars of sunlight that fell through the 
trees and on to the cottage doorway were 
alive with pulsing gray motes. 

Joan looked out. “ My ! It ’s a lovely 
day,” she exclaimed. “ Come over here, 
Jock, and watch me make the motes 
dance,” and she flicked at them with her 
little hand and laughed aloud to see the 
way they swirled and leaped and then 
dropped from sight in the shadow below 
the sunbeam. 

Jock came and leaned against the 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


89 


doorpost, winking and rubbing his sleepy 
eyes. When he had watched his sister 
in silence for a few moments, he said : 

“ That ’s nothing great, to make motes 
dance that way. You just watch what I 
can do.” And he stepped back into the 
cottage and then held up his hand, 
with fingers outspread against the golden 
light. 

“ Oh, oh!” murmured Joan in amaze- 
ment, as she saw his hand turn to a 
transparent rose color with every bone 
visible. “ That really is wonderful. Will 
mine do it, too ? ” 

“ Certainly,” said Jock. “Hold it up, 
and you ’ll see.” 

She did so and found that her hand 
was also like pink glass, with bones con- 
structed just like Jock’s. 

“ Come here to me, my dears,” called 
the little old lady, who was laying the 
tablecloth for breakfast upon the same 
little table that the children had used the 


90 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

night before. “ I intend to make you 
both very useful,” she said with a smile, 
when the twins stood before her, “ and 
so, Jock, — I hope you won’t object to 
my calling you by your first name, for 
you see,” she continued, “ I ’m not used 
to having royalty visit me, and I find it 
rather hard to remember that you are a 
Prince and Princess instead of just an 
ordinary little boy and girl.” 

“ Oh, no, we don’t object at all to your 
calling us by our first names, do we, 
Jock?” said Joan. “ In fact, we really 
like it,” she continued, “ for it makes 
things more homelike.” 

Jock nodded. “Yes, we like it, all 
right,” he said. “ But maybe I ’d better 
grant you a special permit, for that ’s 
what Father does to his friends. It’s a 
rule of royalty. It ’s rather silly, is n’t 
it ? But it ’s always done. The permit ’s 
granted; so now what shall we do to be 
useful?” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


91 


The little old lady crinkled up her eyes 
in a smile. “ Young man,” she said, 
“ the most useful thing that I can think 
of for you to do is to take this little 
basket and carry it out into the side yard, 
where you will spy my henhouse, under- 
neath the tallest of the tall buckeye trees. 
Now, when you have succeeded in find- 
ing the henhouse, see if you can’t find 
me some fresh eggs, which I will scramble 
for our breakfast.” 

Jock took the basket and started on 
his errand. 

“ I want to do something, too, so please 
make me useful,” begged Joan. 

“ Come this way, my dear,” said the 
little old lady, and she led Joan into her 
pantry. “ Do you know how to cut 
bread for toast ? ” she asked. 

“Oh, yes,” said Joan. “Mother often 
lets me help our maid Sally, when her 
brother comes to see her, and she wants 
to get through her work early. Her 


92 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


brother, — he ’s a policeman, and oh ! 
he ’s so big and strong, and he wears a 
real silver badge with a Number 8 on it 
pinned to his coat ! ” 

“ That ’s all very interesting, I’ m sure,” 
said the little old lady. “ Here ’s the 
knife, and you ’ll find the bread in the 
left-hand side of the cupboard.” 

Joan cut the bread nice and straight 
and then, under the little old lady’s di- 
rections, carried it back into the main 
room of the cottage, and toasted it before 
the big open fireplace. When the last 
slice was toasted crisp and brown, the 
little old lady showed her how to spread 
the butter on smooth and even, and how 
to pile the slices upon a great copper 
platter which she had been warming in a 
corner of the hearth, so that the toast 
might be kept good and hot until the tea 
was brewed and the eggs scrambled for 
their modest breakfast. 

“I do hope Jock will be able to find 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


93 


some eggs,” said Joan, as she proudly 
surveyed her handiwork. 

“ Don’t worry about that,” said the 
little old lady. “ He ’ll find some, all 
right, for my hens are very industrious, 
model hens, and always lay me some 
eggs for my breakfast. They would n’t 
disappoint me for anything. But I do 
wonder what is keeping that boy. Maybe 
I ’d better go after him.” 

No sooner had she finished speaking 
than the cottage door burst open, and 
Jock marched into the room, holding the 
egg basket triumphantly aloft. 

“ Five eggs ! ” he announced, as he 
handed it over to the little old lady. 

“Good!” she said. “They’ll make 
quite a large-sized dish.” 

She broke them rapidly into a hot but- 
tered skillet and stirred them around fast, 
so that they ^wouldn’t scorch or burn, 
but would be light, fluffy, and delicious. 
While she was busy in this manner, Jock 


94 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


and Joan had put the tea and toast upon 
the table and had drawn up their hostess’s 
big armchair. The settee they reserved 
for themselves, and soon they were all 
three enjoying a very jolly and appetizing 
breakfast, to which, let me tell you, they 
did full justice ! 

While it was being eaten, the twins 
entertained the little old lady with a full 
account of their various adventures since 
the time that Jock was first filled with 
the great idea of the Crystal Ball. 

She listened with rapt attention, nod- 
ding her head approvingly at the skilful 
way in which the children had managed 
the enterprise. But when they had ques- 
tioned her as to whether she or her sailor 
son had ever been to the Garden of the 
Sun, or if they knew of any one who had, 
she regretfully answered, “ No.” 

The twins were disappointed at this, 
for they were very anxious to find the 
Garden of the Sun and capture the magi- 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


95 


cal Crystal Ball as soon as possible, so as 
to be able to get back to the Royal Palace 
of Moondom in time for their father’s 
birthday. 

“ I ’m so very sorry,” said the little old 
lady, “ but I don’t know a single person 
who ’s been there, although I ’ve always 
heard of the Garden of the Sun and of 
the many dangers which surround it. In- 
deed, my dears, I think you are very bold 
to attempt to capture this Crystal Ball.” 

“ Yes,” solemnly said Jock, “it really 
is brave of us, because lots of grown-up 
people have been after that Crystal for 
years. Why, father has had four or five 
of his best soldiers and some of his wise 
men try to get it for him. But they 
never could.” 

“ But just think,” said Joan, and she 
leaned across the table and smiled 
eagerly into the little old lady’s eyes, — 
“just think how surprised Father is going 
to be when he comes to breakfast on his 


96 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


birthday and finds it all wrapped up in 
my hemstitched pocket-handkerchief lying 
before his plate. Oh, you know it will 
be wonderful ! ” And she caught the 
little old lady’s hand in both of hers, and 
squeezed it excitedly. “How I wish you 
were going to be there too,” she ex- 
claimed. 

“ Indeed,” said her hostess, “ I would 
enjoy the sight, for I ’m sure it would 
be the biggest surprise the King has 
ever had in all his fife ; and I think it ’s 
lovely of you to get it for him. Now, 
this,” she said, “is the time I usually 
give my adopted son, Gyp, his breakfast. 
So, my dears, won’t you run over to his 
crib and see if the little sleepyhead is 
awake.” 

“ Oh, he ’s awake, all right,” laughed 
Joan. “Just see how he is rocking his 
basket back and forth.” She lifted the 
monkey up and carried him over to the 
settee, where she seated herself with him 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


97 


in her lap. “ Now, what is he to have 
to eat?” she asked her hostess. “All 
of the toast and eggs are gone.” 

“ Toast and eggs ! ” scoffed Jock. 
“Whoever heard of a monkey eating 
toast and eggs? Some nuts or an apple 
is what he wants.” 

“ Why, that ’s exactly what he ’s going 
to have,” said the little old lady. “ Three 
peanuts and an apple.” 

She went into the pantry and returned 
with the apple and a striped paper bag 
of peanuts, which she handed to Jock 
with a knife, and told him that he would 
first have to peel the apple, and then cut 
it up in little, fine pieces before feeding 
the monkey. 

Jock did this very carefully, and he 
and Joan had a great deal of fun watch- 
ing the way the monkey would first look 
at the piece of apple which they had 
handed him, and then, having turned it 
around in his funny, wrinkly little hands, 


98 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


would sniff at it, and at last pop it into 
his mouth, and make droll faces while 
munching it to show his approval. 

When the apple was finished, and he 
had eaten his allowance of three peanuts 
(Jock and Joan ate the rest of the bag- 
ful), and was feeling that his little tummy 
was as full as it could be, he decided that 
he would divert himself with these two 
new friends. So he pulled Joan’s curls 
and smeared Jock’s face with apple peel- 
ings, until the little old lady had to come 
to the rescue, and tell him to behave 
himself and remember he had company. 

When Gyp found out that the little old 
lady did n’t intend to have her guests mis- 
treated in any such playful manner, he 
became very meek and good and sat 
quietly upon Joan’s lap, licking his tiny 
hands and then rubbing them over his 
face and head. 

“ Does n’t he wash his face cunningly ? ” 
asked Joan. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


99 


“ Yes,” agreed Jock. “ Just like a cat 
does. But he should have done it before 
he had his breakfast. You know you 
should, you little rascal,” he said, tickling 
the monkey gently between the ribs. 

The little old lady, meanwhile, had 
pushed a stool up beside the tall black 
cabinet with brass knobs on its drawers, 
and then, stepping upon this improvised 
step, she had reached up and taken a 
small comb and brush from off the top 
of the cabinet. These she handed to the 
twins and told them to give Gyp’s fur a 
good combing and brushing. 

The little monkey did n’t care for this 
part of the morning’s occupation, and he 
chattered all the time the operation was 
being performed. 

“ Is n’t this fun ? ” said Joan, giving the 
monkey a last pat upon his head with the 
brush. “I do wish we could stay here 
with Gyp and the little old lady all day, 
don’t you, for there are so many things 


100 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


that I haven’t seen yet. I mean,” she 
continued, “ that I have n’t seen well. 
Now all those strings of birds’ eggs, for 
instance; and in the room where I slept 
there’s a great big glass case, just like 
the kind in which candy is kept in stores, 
all filled with the most beautiful butter- 
flies and beetles.” 

“ Alive ? ” asked Jock. 

“ No,” said Joan. “ They ’re all glued 
down on pieces of cork. And on the 
mantelpiece there are four big gourds 
made into bottles to carry water in. 
And oh ! I almost forgot to tell you, 
the little old lady says she ’s going to 
give us one of them, so that we won’t 
grow so thirsty again upon our journey.” 

“ Hooray ! ” shouted Jock. “ That ’s 
splendid ! I think we ’d better start on 
our way soon, don’t you ? ” 

Joan gave a sigh. “I suppose so,” 
she said. “ But I certainly do hate to go, 
for we ’re having such a good time here.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


101 


“ Who ’s talking about going ? ” de- 
manded the little old lady, as she bustled 
into the room with a bundle in her 
hands. 

“We both were,” said the twins to- 
gether, “ for it ’s high time for us to start 
out on our way once more towards the 
Garden of the Sun. And so we will have 
to say good-by just as soon as we get our 
things together.” 

“ I ’m very sorry to hear it, my dears,” 
said the little old lady. “But I won’t 
try to detain you, as I know how anxious 
you are to succeed in your undertaking 
before your father the King’s birthday. 
And, my dears,” she continued. “ I also 
want to say to you that my sailor son 
will be home in the autumn, and I want 
you to promise that you will come and 
pay me a much longer visit then, and 
hear some of his many sea tales.” 

The children clapped their hands de- 
lightedly. 


102 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ Oh, we certainly will love to come ! 
You just write us a postcard to let us 
know the exact date, won’t you 1 ” 

“ Yes, my dears, and in this little 
bundle you will find some lunch which 
I hope you will like,” said the little 
old lady, with a smile. “ I Ve also re- 
filled your biscuit tin, and now I will 
go and find you one of my water-bottle 
gourds, which are very good things to 
carry water in, as they keep it both 
cool and sweet, and at the same time are 
quite light to carry.” 

She went into the next room and re- 
turned with Joan’s blue velvet cape, and 
the gourd water-bottle, which she filled 
and then securely corked. Next she tied 
a strong cord around its neck, so that 
it could be slung from Jock’s shoulders. 

“ That ’s great,” said Jock, as he put it 
on. “ No more thirst for us on this 
journey.” 

The children’s hostess helped them tie 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


103 


up their things in the bandanna handker- 
chief, and then she tied Joan up in her 
blue cape, and asked if there was any- 
thing more to tie. 

“No,” laughed Jock, “we are in fine 
marching order. So now we will really 
say good-by.” So he gave the little old 
lady the biggest kind of a bear-hug (a 
regular Polar-bear hug, which is the 
tightest hug of all!) and the very best 
sort of a kiss that he knew how to give. 

“ You Ve been awfully good to us,” he 
said, “ and we thank you.” 

“ It ’s my turn now,” said Joan, and 
she held the little old lady’s pink cheek 
close against her own and kissed her. 
“ Good-by,” she whispered. “We both 
love you lots and lots.” 

And then together the twins ran out of 
the cottage and on into the great forest. 
But just before they disappeared into 
its grim depths, they turned and waved 
a last farewell to their friend, who re- 


104 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


mained standing in the rose and honey- 
suckle-draped doorway. 

“ Does n’t this part of the great forest 
seem lonesome and still h ” asked J oan, 
turning her head backwards so as to see 
if any glimpse of the cottage was visible 
between the trees. 

Jock nodded sorrowfully. 

“ Yes,” he said, “it seems to be just 
about the lonesomest place we were ever 
in. I wonder we did n’t notice it yes- 
terday.” 

“ The reason we did n’t notice it yester- 
day,” said Joan, “was because it ’s just 
right about this part that the lonesome- 
ness is. So let ’s walk fast and leave it 
behind.” 

They had hurried along in silence for 
some paces when Jock, who had been 
casting covetous glances at the bundles 
which the little old lady had given them 
just before they started out, said : 

“What do you suppose is in that 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 105 

lunch-box ? I ’d like to take a peep and 
see. You ’d like to know, too, wouldn’t 
you ? ” 

“Well,” agreed Joan, “I would. But 
I don’t think we really ought to look yet 
a while, so soon after breakfast.” 

“ Oh, I did n’t mean for us to eat it 
now,” replied Jock, “I only wanted to 
know what we are going to eat when we 
do eat. See ? ” 

Joan still hesitated. “Well, if we don’t 
eat anything now, I suppose it will be all 
right just to take a little peep,” she said 
at last. 

They halted, and sticking their staves 
upright in the soft ground, Jock drew 
forth his jackknife while Joan held the 
bundle steady, and in a jiffy they had cut 
the string that tied on the wrappings and 
cover of the white cardboard lunch-box. 

“ Oh, how good something does smell ! ” 
cried Joan, sniffing eagerly as the cover 
was lifted. 


106 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ And, oh, my ! How good something 
does look!” laughed Jock, when they 
had removed the tissue-paper napkin with 
which the little old lady had covered the 
lunch. 

There were four big chicken sand- 
wiches, two apiece, and two hard-boiled 
eggs, with a little twisted paper of salt 
and pepper mixed to go with them ; then 
half an apple pie ; then, last of all, two 
red raspberry-jam tarts. 

“We may as well eat those two tarts 
now,” said Jock, when they had feasted 
their eyes upon the appetizing display for 
some moments, “because by the time 
we Ve eaten up all the rest of those good 
things at lunch, I ’m sure we won’t have 
the proper appetite to appreciate them. 
So here goes ! ” And he picked up one 
of the red raspberry jam tarts, and com- 
menced to nibble at its brown and fluted 
crust. 

J oan gazed at him reproachfully. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


107 


“ You said that you would n’t eat a single 
thing, only look. Does it taste very 
good?” she inquired, as Jock bit into 
the jam center. 

Jock nodded. “ Splendid!” he mur- 
mured. 

“ Oh, well, I ’m going to eat mine too, 
for as you say, when we have eaten the 
other good things, we may not care so 
much for these. So if you will hold mine 
for me a moment,” said Joan, “ I ’ll tie 
the top back on the lunch-box again.” 
She seated herself upon the ground with 
the box in her lap, then carefully mend- 
ing the string where it had been cut when 
they had opened the box, she drew it 
once more around the side and securely 
knotted it. 

“ That ’s just as tightly shut as it ever 
was,” said Jock, as he watched her. 

Joan jumped to her feet and breathed 
a sigh of relief. 

(( Yes,” she said. “I was really afraid 


108 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


to leave it open much longer for fear that 
we would n’t have anything left by lunch 
time.” She reached for her tart and com- 
menced to crunch upon it. 

“ They are really great, are n’t they ? ” 
commented Jock with enthusiasm, as he 
saw his twin devour the last crumb. 

“ They were scrumbumptious ; that ’s 
what they were ! ” responded J oan. 
“We will have to get Mother to have 
some made just exactly like them for us 
when we get back home to the Royal 
Palace of Moondom.” 



“ Let’s sing,” said Jock, as the twins 
marched forward upon the winding path- 
way of the great forest. 

“ Oh, yes, let ’s ! ” cried Joan. “ What 
a splendid idea that is! You can choose 
the song, because you thought of it 
first,” she generously continued. “ It ’s 
only fair that you should have the first 
selection.” 

Jock pondered seriously for a few 
seconds and then asked : “ What do you 
say to ‘ Rosy Nell ’ ? ” 

“Rosy Nell” was one of the most 
popular ditties of the palace stableboys, 
and one that the twins admired greatly 
for its rollicking tune, which was easy 
to carry and quite spirited. 


110 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ Fine ! ” nodded Joan. “ You could n’t 
have picked one that I should rather have 
had.” 

“Ladies and gentlemen!” cried Jock, 
flourishing his staff and bowing to an 
imaginary audience, “ladies and gentle- 
men, the concert will now begin.” 

He made another sweeping bow, and 
then the children struck up the lively 
air of “ Rosy Nell ” : 

“ The boys and girls they used to go 
A-fishing in the brooks 
With spools of thread for fishing lines, 
And bended pins for hooks. 

And oft they wished that I would come 
And join them in the game : 

I ’d rather be with Rosy Nell, 
A-swinging in the lane. 

But ah ! Alas for me ! One day 
A gentleman from town 
Was introduced to Rosy Nell 
By Angelina Brown. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


111 


She stayed away from school next day, — 
The truth it was too plain, — 

She ’d run off with that city chap, 
A-swinging in the lane ! ” 

High and sweet rose the children’s 
clear voices in the great still forest, and 
far and near reechoed the notes of “ Rosy 
Nell” amongst the tree trunks. Some- 
times a little brother singer, up in the 
leaves and branches, would join lustily in 
with them, just to show that, although he 
was n’t quite as large as these newcomers 
and didn’t make nearly as much noise, 
why, he could sing as well as anybody. 
Also, he would like them to know that 
music was an everyday occurrence in the 
great forest, and that he was one of the 
permanent, prominent members of the 
tree choir. 

“ I really do believe that little bird up 
in the tree tops thought he was singing 
‘Rosy Nell’ with us,” laughed Joan, 


112 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


when they had finished the song. “ Did 
you notice that he stopped just at the 
time we did ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Jock. “I noticed. But I 
can’t say that he had a very good idea of 
the tune.” 

The twins sang song after song as they 
trudged on, and as they sang, the miles 
slipped rapidly beneath their feet. (Sing- 
ing always makes your journeys shorter, 
and that is the reason that truly wise 
persons sing or whistle as they go along.) 

“ Don’t you think it’s time for us to 
have our luncheon ? ” wistfully asked 
Jock. “ Only think how many hours it 
has been since we breakfasted with the 
dear little old lady in the rose and honey- 
suckle cottage. Why, it really seems as 
if it was yesterday or the day before, it 
was so very, very long ago.” 

“You silly boy!” said Joan, gazing 
fondly at him. “ I believe you are 
always hungry.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


113 


“ Of course I ’m hungry, when I 
haven’t had anything to eat for hours 
and have been tramping as fast as I 
could go. And I bet you are just as 
hungry as I am, only you pretend you 
are n’t, although you are. So I say 
again, this is the right time for lunch- 
eon,” announced Jock, in a most deter- 
mined way, as the twins turned a sharp 
corner of the path. 

“ That ’s just what I was thinking my- 
self, young man,” said a deep and power- 
ful voice at the children’s right-hand side. 

Goodness me, how they did jump ! 
Jock grasped his hatchet, and Joan 
pressed up close to his side, as they 
turned their startled gaze upon a man 
seated beside the pathway. Indeed, he 
was rather an awe-inspiring object, for he 
was quite a large man, with swarthy skin 
and quantities of curly black beard. 
Wrapped tightly around his head was a 
red bandanna handkerchief (the exact 


114 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


counterpart of the twins’ bandanna), 
and suspended from his ears were a pair 
of large gold circles which would sway 
and shake at the slightest movement on 
his part. Strapped upon his back was a 
leather wallet, with a roll of gray flannel 
blankets attached to the top ; and dan- 
gling from the bottom of this wallet were 
two rusty-looking old stewpans. He also 
had suspended from his belt a tin coffee- 
pot and a variety of small articles, such 
as a nutmeg grater and a lemon squeezer. 
He was dressed in some sort of rough 
brown shirt and corduroy trousers, which 
last, let me tell you, were rather muddy. 
In one of his hands he held a hunk 
of bread and in the other a slab of 
cheese. 

“Well, brats! Do you think you will 
know me the next time you see me ? ” he 
asked the startled twins, who gazed, 
open-eyed and open-mouthed, at him. 
Jock caught his breath. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


115 


“ Indeed, we will ! ” he said. “ I hope 
you will forgive us for staring.” 

“ You really must, for we didn’t mean 
it the least bit, you know,” put in Joan 
valiantly. “ It was just because we were 
so very much surprised, for we thought 
there was no one but ourselves in this 
part of the great forest.” 

The man nodded, and the children 
could n’t help noticing how his earrings 
shook and sparkled. “ Oh, that ’s all 
right,” he said. “ It ’s too bad that I 
startled you so. Take a seat, won’t you ? 
There ’s plenty of room.” He laughed 
and patted the ground invitingly. “ Have 
you brought any vittles with you, of one 
sort or another?” he continued. “ Be- 
cause if you have n’t, I suppose I can 
spare a little bread and cheese, although 
it goes mightily against the grain of my 
appetite to have to do so,” and he laughed 
again more heartily than ever. 

“ Thank you,” said the children. “We 


116 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


have our lunch in this box.” They seated 
themselves and opened their lunch. The 
man eyed them with interest. “ You ’ve 
got a lot of nice fixings there,” he said. 

“Yes, it’s a lovely lunch,” said Joan. 
“ The little old lady who lives in the rose 
and honeysuckle cottage gave it to us. 
She’s a dandy cook. Won’t you have 
some ? ” 

“ Oh, I suppose I might oblige you by 
eating a little of it,” responded the man. 
“ How many of those chicken sandwiches 
are there? Four, eh? Well, suppose 
we all start on one of those.” And he 
helped himself to the top sandwich. The 
twins then each took one, and all three 
munched in silence. In a few moments 
the man had completely finished his and 
was staring hard at the one remaining 
sandwich. 

“ I think it ’s a great shame for that 
little article to go to waste,” he mur- 
mured, halfway to himself, and halfway 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


117 


to the twins. He reached over and, tak- 
ing up the sandwich, balanced it upon 
his forefinger and thumb, and gazed in- 
tently at it, as though he expected at any 
moment to see it change its shape or 
color. 

“ Won’t you have it?” politely asked 
Joan. 

“ Anything to be obliging,” laughed 
the man, and he finished it in three 
mouthfuls. He watched the children 
patiently as they ate, and when they 
had almost finished, he said with a smile : 

“You brats must have received larger 
sandwiches than I did, or else your bread 
baskets are much smaller, for it certainly 
takes you a mighty long time to store 
that provender away.” 

“Bread baskets?” queried Jock. 
“ What do you mean by bread baskets ? ” 

“Why, I mean bread baskets , — tum- 
mies, you know,” said the man. “How 
many hard-boiled eggs do you happen to 


118 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

have in that neat little lunch-box of 

yours ? ” 

“ Two,” said Jock, “ and we have salt 
and pepper mixed in this twisted up 
paper to eat with them.” 

“ Good,” said the man. “ Now let me 
tell you the very best thing for us to do 
with those two hard-boiled eggs is to 
shell them, and then cut each in two, so 
as to have more. Instead of two eggs, 
we ’ll have four,” he said in a singsong 
voice. “ I ’m quite a poet, eh ? More 
and four.” He turned to Joan, and said : 
“Now, sissy, suppose you get to work 
and shell them, while I search in my 
wallet for a knife to do the cutting with.” 
Joan did as he requested, while the man 
unstrapped the wallet from his shoulders, 
and laying it upon the ground, com- 
menced to rummage through its depths. 

“ Ah, here we are ! ” he said, as he 
drew out a bone-handled knife and fork. 
The fork he dropped back into the wallet, 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


119 


murmuring, “ My trusty friend, thou art 
not needed now.” He took up one of the 
eggs, and with the knife he sliced it in 
two. When this was done, he pondered 
for a few moments, as though in deep 
thought ; then, as though an idea had oc- 
curred to him, he said : “ Now if I cut 
that other egg in two pieces, we will have 
more than we want, as there are only 
three of us, and here are already three 
pieces of egg. So what do you advise 
me to do about it ? ” he asked, appealing 
to the twins. 

The children were silent. 

“ I don’t believe you know what to do 
about it,” said the man. “ You can’t de- 
cide. Well, the best thing that I can 
think of, the only really satisfactory way 
of solving the mystery, is to leave them 
just as they are, and each one of us take 
a piece and dip it in that paper of salt 
and pepper mixed. What do you say to 
that ? You agree, don’t you ? ” 


120 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“Yes,” nodded the twins. “That’s 
what we 11 do.” And they courteously 
waited for the man to take his pick. He 
selected the whole egg, saying with a 
laugh, “ The largest egg for the largest 
person.” 

Joan opened the paper of seasoning 
and spread it upon the ground with a 
tiny twig at each corner, to keep it from 
blowing away. Then they all three took 
turns in dipping their eggs into it. 
When these were completely consumed, 
the children took from the bottom of the 
lunch-box their apple pie (we must re- 
member that it was only half of an apple 
pie), and divided it into three equal parts, 
which were soon eaten. 

“Has the bottom of the box revealed 
itself?” asked the man, as he watched 
Jock crush the paper napkin up into a 
ball, and then, throwing it up into the air, 
catch it deftly in his mouth as it fell to 
earth again. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


121 


Joan fastened the lid back upon the 
empty box. “ No, there ’s not a crumb 
of lunch left,” she said. “But Jock has 
some biscuits tied up with our other 
things in that red bandanna handkerchief. 
W ould you care to have some of them ? ” 

“No, I believe not,” said the man. 
“I ’ll just finish my bread and cheese 
now.” 

“What you should have done,” said 
Jock, as he watched the man munch, 
“ was to have saved your slice of apple 
pie until you had eaten that, because 
neither bread nor cheese will taste so very 
good after apple pie, — especially the 
little old lady’s apple pie.” 

“You are quite right,” continued the 
man. “ But then, you see, I was afraid a 
little mouse might have eaten up the pie 
while I was eating the bread and cheese. 
And then my favorite motto is, and al- 
ways has been, ‘A bird in the hand is 
worth two in the bush.’ ” 


122 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ Mice ? ” questioned Joan. u Are there 
any mice around here ? ” 

“ Plenty of them,” nodded the man. 
“ And that ’s the reason I feel compelled 
to dispose of this bread and cheese at 
once, instead of waiting until my appetite 
rebounds from the weight of apple pie 
that now depresses it.” At this point he 
gave a slow and solemn wink at the 
twins, and then went on, “ It ’s a well- 
known fact amongst the wise and other- 
wise of the earth that the odor or aroma, 
as I should say to be more impressive, of 
cheese is the surest thing in the world to 
draw mice.” 

“We know it is,” said J oan. “ Sally — 
she ’s our maid — always sets our mouse- 
traps with cheese, does n’t she, Jock ? ” 

“ Certainly she does,” responded Jock. 
“ Except when she uses a bacon rind, 
which is the next best thing to cheese. 
Are the mice around here field mice 
or sure-enough ones % ” he asked the man. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 123 

“ Field mice,” murmured the man, as 
he ate steadily on. 

The children saw that he did not want 
to be disturbed by questions at present, 
and so they quietly waited until he had 
finished his repast. 

“ Now, suppose,” he said, as he brushed 
the crumbs from his black beard and 
drew his fingers comb-like through its 
curls, “ suppose we indulge in a little 
polite conversation. 1 11 start the ball 
rolling by asking what you brats are 
doing out in this great forest, all by 
yourselves.” 

The twins were only too eager to tell 
him all about their various experiences, 
and so they began at the beginning and 
told him of the beautiful, magical Crystal 
Ball, and of their father’s wish to own it, 
and of how they had stolen out from the 
royal Palace of Moondom at midnight to 
go and get it for him as a birthday sur- 
prise. And then they told him how they 


124 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

had walked and walked for miles and 
miles and how they had eaten nothing but 
biscuits and blackberries until the time 
they came to the little old lady’s house, 
who had been so very kind to them. And 
then they told how the little old lady had 
a son who was a brave sailor, who had 
sailed all over the world, and they told 
about Gyp, the monkey, whom the 
little old lady called her “ adopted son ”, 
and how they were going to visit her next 
autumn. Then they showed the man the 
gourd water-bottle and told how they had 
completely forgotten to bring anything to 
carry water in when they started out 
upon their journey, and how terribly 
thirsty they had become, as they had 
found only one spring on their way so 
far. Why, the very memory of that 
awful thirst made the children get out 
their collapsible drinking cups and take 
a cool drink from the gourd water-bottle 
right then and there ! 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


125 


The man listened attentively to every- 
thing that they told him ; nodding ap- 
proval at times, and even crying 
“ Bravo ! ” over such exciting incidents 
as their perilous but successful descent 
down the rope ladder, and again at the 
bold, brave way in which they had ap- 
proached the twinkling light of the 
cottage, which they mistook for a 
gypsy’s camp. He was silent for some 
seconds after the tale was told, and the 
twins waited eagerly for his expressed 
opinion, which came in this wise : 

“ Well, I’ll be s wiggled! The long 
and short of the matter is this : That you 
brats have run away from home ! ” 



The twins were naturally quite pro- 
voked with the man for saying that they 
had run away from home, — just such a 
thing as any bad, unruly child might do ; 
but that they, the future ruler of the fair 
and prosperous Kingdom of Moondom, 
and his royal twin, should set so poor an 
example to the youthful subjects of the 
same fair and prosperous Kingdom was 
of course entirely out of the question. 
And so they both hastened to explain 
that they had n’t run away at all, but had 
merely gone forth in search of noble ad- 
ventures and the magical Crystal Ball, 
like pilgrims or knights of old. 

“ Oh, indeed, I understand you per- 
fectly now,” said the man, as he 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 127 

stretched himself out flat on his back 
upon the moss and dried leaves that so 
luxuriantly carpeted the ground. “ It ’s a 
sort of sacred quest ; is n’t that the idea ? ” 

“ Yes, that ’s exactly what it is,” agreed 
the delighted Jock. “I thought you’d 
understand when we explained more 
fully.” 

Joan smiled at the man, to show that 
they were all three friends together 
again, and that she bore him no malice 
about his mistake about running away 
from home, now that he really under- 
stood. “Are you yourself out in search 
of a quest, too % ” she asked. 

“ I am ! ” emphatically said the man. 
“I am upon the quest for kettles and 
skillets, for buckets and pails, for pots 
and pans, to mend.” 

The children looked mystified. 

“ That ’s a mighty queer quest,” said 
Jock. “ What made you pick those sorts 
of things to hunt for ? ” 


128 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


The man laughed. “Why, they are 
my trade,” he said ; “for you see, I ’m a 
tinker.” 

“You a tinker!” exclaimed Jock. 
“Why, I thought you were a gypsy, or 
maybe a bandit. But you look the most 
like a gypsy, for they all have earrings 
and colored handkerchiefs and wallets, 
and things like that. Are you quite sure 
you aren’t a gypsy? You might be a 
gypsy tinker, you know.” 

“ No,” said the man, “ I ’m afraid that 
I ’m just a plain tinker; and not the least 
little bit of a gypsy. But if ever you 
happen to have a pot or a pan with a 
hole anywhere in it, I ’d be mighty glad 
to show you what a good tinker I am.” 

“We are very much obliged to you,” 
said Joan, “but we didn’t bring any 
cooking things with us, as we did n’t 
think we should need them, and they 
would have just been heavy to carry.” 

“ That ’s where you made a great mis- 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


129 


take,” said the man, “for a good skillet 
and coffee-pot are always handy articles 
to have with you. For instance to-night, 
when you are ready for some supper, and 
have built a blazing camp fire,” — 

“We are going to build a blazing camp 
fire to-night,” put in Jock. “We had 
intended to last night, but we slept at 
the little old lady’s instead.” 

“ As I was saying,” continued the man, 
— “ Made a blazing camp fire and have 
then unrolled your blankets,” — 

“We haven’t got any blankets,” said 
Jock. 

“Ss-ss-ssh!” whispered Joan. “It’s 
very rude to interrupt.” 

The man paid no attention, but went 
on : 

— “Unrolled your blankets, and got 
everything fixed up nice and snug for 
the night, why, that’s the time you’ll 
feel mighty friendly towards a coffee-pot, 
a-bubbling and a-boiling on the camp 


130 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

fire, and a little skillet with a few strips 
of bacon in it, a-sizzling and a-frying in 
the flames. Ah ! That ’s what makes 
the great forest seem real homelike and 
cosy. And then the odor of them ! ” 
The man lolled his head backwards, and 
closed his eyes, smiled lazily, and sniffed 
at an imaginary aroma of coffee and 
breakfast bacon. “ To my mind,” he 
continued, “there isn’t any flower nor 
yet any cologne either, in the whole of 
the great wide world that smells half as 
sweet as a pot of boiling coffee and a 
skillet of bacon a-cooking away out of 
doors on a warm summer night, or a 
winter one either, for that matter,” he 
concluded with a laugh. 

“ I certainly wish we had known about 
that before we started out adventuring,” 
said Jock, and he gave a deep sigh. 
“ But then, you know, we are n’t very 
good cooks, although Joan does make 
fine fudge,” — 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


131 


“ I can make lots more things than 
fudge,” announced Joan. “I can make 
tea and boil eggs, hard and soft both, 
and I can make toast, and bake potatoes. 
And after a while I shall be able to make 
anything I want to, when I grow big, be- 
cause Mother is going to have our maid 
Sally teach me how.” 

“ Good ! ” exclaimed the man. “ But 
you won’t need much teaching. You are 
already such an accomplished cook. Any 
one that can boil eggs either hard or soft, 
as you say you can, has little to learn, 
but mark my words and take this to 
heart, as sound advice : The next time 
you two brats start on a journey or quest, 
as you prefer to call it, bring along with 
you a good, substantial little skillet and 
coffee-pot. And then you can practice 
all the cooking you want to as you travel 
along. That ’s a good scheme, eh ? ” 

The twins nodded. “Yes, indeed,” 
they said. “ A splendid scheme, and we 


132 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

won't forget it the next time we go any- 
where.” 

“ Now that I have mentioned traveling 
along,” said the man, “it seems to me 
to be about time for us to meander on- 
wards once more.” 

“So it is,” 1 said Jock, as he arose to 
his feet, and picked up his staff. “Which 
way do you go h ” 

“ This way,” answered the man, point- 
ing in the direction in which the twins 
were traveling. “ I just follow the path, 
and by and by I 'm sure to get some- 
where.” 

“ That 's just what we are doing, too,” 
said Jock. “ So we can all go on to- 
gether, if you don't object.” 

“ Charmed to have your company,” 
said the man, and he stopped his work of 
buckling the straps of his wallet about 
his shoulders to make them a sweeping 
bow. The twins returned it, which 
seemed to amuse the man greatly, for he 



AN ENORMOUS WHITE WOLFHOUND BOUNDED OUT UPON THE PATH 

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THE CRYSTAL BALL 


133 


laughed uproariously and slapped himself 
lustily upon the flanks. “ Now, if we are 
all ready,” he said, “ I will whisper to my 
companion, and then we will start.” 

The children were amazed to hear the 
man speak of having a companion with 
him. 

“We thought you were by yourself,” 
said Joan, “or we would have saved 
some of the luncheon for your friend. 
We are very sorry not to have known 
earlier.” 

The man smiled and said: “Don’t 
worry about that, for my friend gets his 
own lunch, when he ’s out in the great 
forest, and I expect he had as good a one 
as we had, for, let me tell you, he is an 
expert hunter, who is also very fond of 
game. Whew-ww-w w ! ” he whistled, 
and then again, “ Wheww-www-wwww- 
www ! ” 

There was a great crackling in the 
undergrowth and shrubs, and then an 


134 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

enormous white wolfhound bounded out 
upon the path. 

“ Oh, is that your companion ? ” cried 
Jock. “ Is n’t he a beauty ? What ’s his 
name. Has he really been hunting? 
Will he let me pat him ? ” The man 
laughed. 

“What a string of questions ! ” he said. 
“You will have to give me time to answer 
them all, before you ask any more. 
Otherwise I shall forget the first question 
before I get to the last. Yes, he ’ll love 
to have you pat him, and his name is 
Rex, which means King, for a wolfhound 
is the King of dogs just as a lion is the 
King of beasts. Now, for the last ques- 
tion, which you can plainly decide for 
yourselves, if you ’ll only use your eyes 
to some purpose.” He plucked at a bit 
of gray rabbit fur on Rex’s nose, and 
laughed. “You were quite successful 
in your hunting this morning, were n’t 
you, old chap ? ” he inquired of the dog, 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


135 


as he stroked his shaggy head. “ I ’m 
guessing right when I say you had a nice 
fat jack rabbit for your luncheon, eh ? ” 

The twins looked on admiringly. 
“Rex is a beautiful name for him, ,, said 
Joan. 

“We have a dog at the Palace that 
can shake hands,” said Jock. “He’s a 
Newfoundland.” 

“ So can Rex,” said the man. “ Here, 
Rex, come and shake hands with the 
little boy and girl.” 

Rex extended his right forepaw, and 
Jock and Joan in turn solemnly shook 
it. 

“Now you have been formally intro- 
duced,” said the man, “ so let ’s start on 
our way. We will let Rex lead, as the 
path isn’t wide enough for more than 
three to walk abreast at once.” 

They started forward. First the large 
white wolfhound, and then his master, 
with the twins on either side of him. 


136 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


The kitchen utensils which hung about 
the man jangled and clanked in a cheer- 
ful manner as he walked, while the 
leather straps of his wallet would 
“ scrunch ” like a pair of stiff new shoes 
at the swing of his broad shoulders when 
he took an unusually long step. The 
children found their staves of much assist- 
ance to them in keeping up with him, for 
although his legs were so much longer 
than theirs, he had only two to walk with, 
whereas they felt they were using three 
apiece, counting their staves for the third 
one. 

“We look very much like a regular 
army on the march,” said the man, after 
they had traveled for some distance. 
“ Rex is the commanding officer, I ’m the 
commissary department, because I ’m 
hung about with all sorts of pots and 
pans, whereas you brats are the soldiers, 
because of your staves, which look war- 
like, and then, also, your arms.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


137 


“ As we are so very martial looking at 
present, let ’s keep time as we tramp 
along,” proposed the man, “for in that 
way we will get over the ground a great 
deal faster than we are doing now.” 

The twins hailed the idea with delight. 

“You must both put your right foot 
out, 50,” directed the man, as he advanced 
his own right foot. “Now here we go, 
— right foot, left foot, kettle full of bean 
soup ; right foot, left foot, kettle full of 
bean soup.” 

The man had spoken correctly when 
he had said they would make more prog- 
ress by keeping step, and the children, 
who had thought that they were walking 
as rapidly as possible when he had first 
proposed this new manner of journeying, 
were amazed to find the speed at which 
they were going now. It seemed almost 
as if they were flying. As they swept on 
the very trees and bushes which grew on 
every side looked as if they were moving 


138 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


backwards, so brisk was their pace, — right 
foot, left foot, kettle full of bean soup. 

Once a gray squirrel darted acros's the 
pathway, and Rex, forgetting that he was 
the commanding officer of the regiment, 
started in hot pursuit ; and it took a very 
loud and stern call from his master to 
make him abandon the chase and resume 
his position in front of the marchers once 
more, I can tell you. And then again 
the march was interrupted while the little 
army stopped to fill and drain its drink- 
ing cups, with sweet, cool water from the 
little old lady’s gourd water-bottle. 

“ Why, I do declare, we Ve almost 
finished our water-bottle,” said Jock, as 
he shook the now nearly emptied flask. 

“ Oh, well,” said the man, “ it 11 only 
be a short time now before we come to a 
spring. I Ve been on this path before, 
so I know. And when we do arrive at 
that spring,” he continued, “ we may as 
well stop and pitch camp for the night, 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


139 


for it is the only water that we will find 
all the rest of the time that we are in the 
great forest.” 

“ Oh, can you tell us exactly when we 
will get out of this great forest ? ” cried 
Jock excitedly. “ And do you know how 
far off the Garden of the Sun is, and have 
you ever been there 1 ” 

“Wait a minute,” ordered the man. 
“ There you go, a-piling questions on me 
again. You ’ll pile up so many that I 
shall be smothered with them before I 
can catch my breath to answer.” 

At this point, Joan, who had been 
amusing herself during the short halt in 
their march by noting the different varie- 
ties of trees that branched above her 
head, and naming to herself the ones she 
knew — oak, maple, birch, spruce, and 
pine — called out to her companions, 
who were some paces from her : 

“ Oh, come quick and see what I have 
found!” 


140 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

Jock ran to her side, and the man fol- 
lowed more leisurely. 

“What is this great discovery?” said 
the man, looking about. “ I don’t see 
anything of importance.” 

For answer, Joan pointed to a crotch 
just above her head in a young maple 
tree, where, securely and cleverly fas- 
tened, lay a bird’s nest made of twigs? 
bits of string, dried grass, and mud. 

“ Ho, a robin redbreast’s nest ! ” 
laughed the man. “Well, I must say 
that is a wonderful find.” 

“Maybe it has some young robins in 
it,” suggested Jock. “ I wish I were tall 
enough to see. But are n’t you ? ” he 
said, turning to the man. 

“ I ’ll tell you what you do,” good- 
naturedly proposed the tinker. “ Come 
right here below the nest. Now make 
your elbows stiff enough for me to boost 
you up by them, and then you will be 
able to see what ’s inside.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


141 


“ Oh, thank you ever so much,” cried 
J ock, and he held his arms as stiff as he 
could, while the man put a hand under 
each bent elbow and lifted him up on a 
level with the robin redbreast’s nest. 

“ Tell me what you see,” begged Joan, 
when Jock had gazed silently upon it for 
some few seconds. 

“ I see four little greeny-blue eggs, 
with freckles on them ; that ’s what I 
see,” announced Jock. 

At this Joan said she must have a look 
too, and so the man lifted her in the same 
manner he had lifted her brother; and 
she also saw the pretty eggs, but in no 
way touched them. (For, as you know, 
birds’ eggs should never be touched, not 
even with the very tip of your littlest fin- 
ger ; for if they are, the mother bird will 
certainly find out some way, I don’t 
know how, and she will grow so angry 
that she will stop keeping the eggs warm, 
and then they will never hatch into dear 


142 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


little fuzzy baby birds.) The man put 
her upon her feet again and said : 

“ Let ’s get back on the pathway, brats. 
And, young man,” he said, turning to 
Jock, “I will now endeavor to answer 
the various questions which you had just 
propounded to me when your sister called 
our attention to that charming bit of 
nature. Now, let me see if I recall the 
questions,” he mused, cocking his head 
on one side, screwing up his eyes, and 
tapping his forehead thoughtfully with 
his fore finger. “ First, you want to 
know when you will get out of this great 
forest. The answer to that question is, 
To-morrow, about midday, if we keep on 
at the pace we are going at present.” 

“ Goody, goody, goody ! ” squealed 
the children. 

“Now, we come to the second and 
third questions,” resumed the man. 
“ How far off is the Garden of the Sun, 
and have I ever been there? Answer: 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


143 


It is still a great distance off, exactly 
how far I cannot say ; but I believe that 
it lies somewhere out beyond a vast 
desert. Yet I am not certain of this as 
I have never been there, nor known of 
any one that has.” 

The twins looked quite crestfallen 
when they heard this, and Joan sadly 
said : 

“We were in hopes that we would 
have almost reached our journey’s end 
when once we were out of the great 
forest, but I see we were mistaken. 
Why, only think of the vast desert to 
cross,” she continued mournfully. “ It 
will be heaps harder to pass through 
than this great forest, and there very 
probably won’t be any pathway to fol- 
low, either.” 

“ Oh, of course there won’t be, goosey,” 
said her brother. “Who ever heard of 
a pathway in a vast desert ? Why, there 
won’t be anything but sand and rocks, 


144 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


anywhere, unless we should come across 
an oasis, which we are n’t likely to do, 
as some deserts don’t have them. But 
you must n’t feel sad about the vast des- 
ert,” he said, patting Joan on her shoulder. 
“ Just remember that we have our com- 
pass, so we won’t really need any path, 
after all.” 

“ Oh, I ’m not the least bit sad,” said 
Joan, “ for I know that we shall get there 
after a while. And my ! How much fun 
it will be to see Father’s surprise when 
he comes down to breakfast on his birth- 
day and finds the magical Crystal Ball, 
wrapped up in a pocket handkerchief that 
I made for him all by myself, lying in 
front of his plate.” 

“ Won’t it be fine!” agreed Jock. 
“And we will get there all right, you 
may be sure. Because,” he explained, 
turning to the man, “ our geography 
says : The only way to get to the Garden 
of the Sun is by going first to the East, 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 145 

and then to the West, and then keep on 
till we get there.” 

“That sounds like good advice,” re- 
sponded the man. “ Are you brats fol- 
lowing it ? ” 

“Yes,” answered the twins together. 
“We are following it to a dot.” 



“ Break ranks ! Halt ! ” shouted the 
man, and then making his upraised hands 
do duty as a megaphone, he cried : 

“ Here is where our royal and valiant 
little army discontinues its march and 
pitches camp for the night. Commander 
Rex, in full charge of the forces, is already 
leading the way to water. Follow him.” 

Rex, with the sure instinct of a thirsty 
dog, was making his way, as fast as his 
four legs could carry him, to a little 
stream of water some yards from the path- 
way, and as the twins and their tinker 
friend hurried behind him, they could 
hear the loud splash he made as he leaped 
into the stream and eagerly commenced 
lapping the running water. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


147 


“He seems to be very hot and very 
thirsty,” commented Joan, when the 
three friends stood at the edge of the 
stream, and she had noted the great wolf- 
hound’s heaving sighs and hanging 
tongue. “Very hot and thirsty indeed, 
old fellow, are n’t you ] ” she continued, 
as the dog went on lapping. 

“Well, he has plenty to keep him com- 
pany in that,” said the man, with a laugh, 
“ so don’t let us wait upon him. He ’s 
apt to be drinking here for five or ten 
minutes yet, and I would assuredly like to 
try a little water-lapping myself, but cer- 
tainly not in the stream after Commander 
Rex. So let us move farther up.” 

He and the twins followed the stream 
in its twisting and winding way until they 
came to the spring which happily proved 
to be quite near, and although they found 
it to be a rather small spring, which could 
in no way compare in beauty with the 
one they had discovered in the beginning 


148 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


of the great forest, they were quite satis- 
fied, for the water was very cool and 
fresh. When they had quenched their 
thirst entirely, and the children had 
farther refreshed themselves by bathing 
their faces and hands in the sparkling 
water, the man proposed that they hasten 
the affair of their camp. “For,” as he 
said, “ we must make all of our arrange- 
ments before it grows dark, which it will 
shortly do. And so first let us collect as 
many dried branches and twigs as pos- 
sible so that we can make our camp fire, 
which is to be a big one. Also, it must 
be kept burning brightly all night. Now, 
brats, you see your duty. Therefore, 
hump and hustle yourselves.” 

The children had no difficulty in find- 
ing fuel in abundance, for, as you surely 
know, a forest is the very grandest kind 
of a place to find firewood. Jock’s little 
hatchet was found to be of priceless as- 
sistance in chopping up the dead branches 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


149 


that were too heavy or cumbersome for 
the twins to move whole. 

“ This is about all I can carry now,” 
said Joan, who was hugging nine or ten 
medium-sized limbs and a few twigs with 
both arms. “ All right,” said Jock. 
“Just trot them over toward the spring. 
That ’s where the man said the camp is to 
be. And by the time you get back, I will 
have another armful cut up for you.” 

He put his foot upon a big branch to 
hold it steady and whacked away at it 
with his little hatchet at a great rate, 
while Joan ran over to the spring to dis- 
pose of her burden. There she found the 
man comfortably seated upon the ground, 
with his back propped up against the 
gnarled front of an ancient oak tree. He 
was serenely puffing at a corncob pipe, 
which he held between his teeth, and he 
seemed to be as happy and contented as a 
big sunflower in the sunshine. As his 
eyes lit upon Joan, he shuffled the pipe 


150 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

over to the far corner of his mouth, blew 
a whiff of smoke, and said : 

“ I thought I ’d better make you brats 
bring in all of the firewood, and I would 
stay right here, so as to be on hand to 
direct you exactly where to put it, and to 
explain the proper way to build a camp 
fire. Now, I must tell you,” he continued, 
“ that I am quite an expert at all that sort 
of thing, for I Ve done much camping and 
therefore made very many camp fires, 
both in the woods and on the plains.” 

Joan nodded. “We were wonderfully 
lucky to meet with you,” she said, “ for 
I ’m sure that neither Jock nor I would 
know much about the right way to camp 
if we were by ourselves. Where shall I 
put these ? ” 

And she held out her bundle of fagots. 

The man took his pipe from his mouth, 
and pointing with its stem, indicated a 
spot right in front of where she stood. 
“Now we will commence our wonderful 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


151 


camp fire,” he said. “ So first, we must 
take those sticks and spread them out in 
a circle.” 

Joan did so. “Now,” he directed, 
“ get a big armful of dead leaves from off 
the ground — the driest you can find — 
and pile them up on top of the sticks.” 

Joan did so. “Good!” exclaimed the 
man. “You will be a dandy firemaker, 
by the time that I am through with you. 
Now you must continue to build in just 
that way, first a layer of twigs and 
branches and then a layer of dried leaves, 
until you have a heap half as tall as you 
are yourself. And when it has grown to 
that height, that will be the time to light 
it.” 

Joan gazed proudly at her work. “ It 
certainly looks as if it was going to be a 
grand fire,” she said. “Now I will go 
and bring in some more wood.” And she 
tripped swiftly off, to where she had left 
her brother. She found that Jock, in her 


152 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


absence, had moved farther back into the 
forest and was now kneeling upon the 
ground, gazing with much apparent inter- 
est at some object by his knee. 

Joan, as she hurried towards him, 
called out, as soon as she came within 
calling distance, “ What have you found ? 
Please tell me, quick ! ” 

Jock turned his head in her direction. 
“ Oh, I ’ve made a wonderful discovery,” 
he shouted back, at the same time franti- 
cally waving a small whitish thing in his 
hand. 

“ Show me the discovery,” panted Joan, 
as she dropped down beside him. 

“Hi! Watch out for what you Ye do- 
ing,” cried Jock. “ You ’re smashing four 
or five beautiful ones by flopping down in 
that manner.” 

“What? Where?” asked Joan, jump- 
ing to her feet and staring wildly at the 
ground. 

“ Oh ! ” said she, in evident disgust. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


153 


“ Are those old toadstools your great dis- 
covery 1 ? I thought it would be some- 
thing really nice. Buried treasure, or 
maybe wild strawberries,” and she kicked 
at an especially plump and juicy speci- 
men, in, I am sorry to tell, a rather sulky 
manner. 

J ock laughed heartily. “ Don’t you re- 
member the stewed mushrooms that we 
sometimes had at the palace for break- 
fast? ” he asked. Joan nodded. She re- 
membered well. “ I thought you would, 
for they were so good,” continued Jock. 
“ Now these things which you so scorn- 
fully call toadstools are n’t toadstools at 
all, even if they do look like them. 
They ’re crisp and delicious mushrooms, 
and we will have some cooked for our 
supper. So what do you think of my dis- 
covery now?” 

Joan clapped her hands, and said : 

“ Why, I think it ’s a perfectly splendid 
discovery, since you have explained, and 


154 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


I always have guessed that you are the 
smartest boy in the whole Kingdom of 
Moondom.” 

She threw her arms around J ock’s neck. 
“ And now,” she continued, “ since you 
know that mushrooms are n’t toadstools, 
I am positive of the fact. You are really 
sure about them, are n’t you ? ” 

“Oh, yes!” said Jock, with a nod. 
“ Perfectly sure. Now, you hold your 
skirt out, and I will fill it with them.” 

Very soon Joan’s skirt was sagging 
under the weight of mushrooms that her 
brother dropped into it. “ I don’t be- 
lieve I can carry any more,” she said, as 
Jock continued to keep adding more and 
more. “ Really, you must stop, and let 
me take them back to the camp fire 
where the man is. Otherwise, I shall 
have a ripped skirt and they will all fall 
through.” 

“ Very well ! Trot along to camp ! ” 
said Jock. “That ought to be enough 


155 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 

to make as big a mushroom stew as we 
and the man together can possibly eat. 
So I don’t think we need gather any 
more.” 

He picked up his hatchet and drew 
together the bundle of fagots that he had 
dropped in the excitement of first dis- 
covering the vegetables. 

“ The man eats an awful lot,” observed 
Joan, looking doubtfully into her skirt. 
“ An awful lot ! And I really think it 
would be better for me to slip back here, 
and gather another skirtful as soon as 
I have emptied these out.” 

“ I believe that would be best,” agreed 
Jock, “for we wouldn’t want him to be 
hungry.” 

When the children arrived at the 
spring with their burdens and showed 
the man what they had found, he took 
his pipe completely out of his mouth, and 
gave three mighty cheers. 

“Hip! Hip! Hooray!” My, what 


156 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


ringing echoes those three big cheers did 
make in the great forest. Why, I really 
believe you could have heard them a 
fourth of a mile away. A little striped 
squirrel who was busily scratching his 
little striped head up among the leaves 
of the ancient oak tree, against which the 
man had been leaning, was so surprised 
and frightened that he almost lost his 
balance, and came very near tumbling to 
the ground, which wouldn’t have been 
the least little tiny bit of a joke to him, 
for the ground was very hard beneath 
the old oak. 

The twins and their friend the man 
laughed merrily together over the cheer- 
ing, and when Jock had piled his con- 
tribution of kindling upon that which 
J oan had already arranged, he ran 
back among the trees to cut one more 
armful. 

The man, who seemed to have sud- 
denly developed great energy, since Joan 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


157 


appeared with the mushrooms, hustled 
about, collecting dried leaves and twigs 
with which to furnish the camp fire. He 
seemed very cheery and whistled gaily 
as he worked. Already he had un- 
strapped the numerous pots and pans 
that dangled about his person, and Joan 
had seized upon the largest one of them 
to carry off with her to fill with more 
mushrooms, first emptying those that 
filled her skirt into two of the remaining 
utensils. 

“You brats had better work fast!” 
called the man after her, as she slipped 
among the trees, “ for the nighttime is 
almost here.” 

The children obeyed his warning, and 
by the time that the darkness began to 
settle down like a mammoth flock of 
crows, and the air grew sharp and cool, 
with the tang of dew and the rustle of 
the night breezes, they had succeeded in 
gathering an enormous heap of brush- 


158 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


wood for their camp fire, also a second 
handful of mushrooms. 

“This is what I call solid comfort,” 
said the man, as he struck one of Jock’s 
safety matches against the side of the 
box and then applied it to the dried 
leaves of the camp fire. The leaves leapt 
and flamed, then the twigs and branches 
withered and cracked, and the camp fire 
was a blaze of glory that lit up the camp 
as though a thousand candles shed their 
rays there. The man rubbed his hands 
together and repeated : 

“ This is what I call solid comfort. 
Now I ’ll sit right down here by the fire 
and instruct you brats in the delightful 
occupation of preparing supper. First fill 
the coffee-pot at the spring and then meas- 
ure into it four tablespoonfuls of coffee.” 
Both the coffee and the tablespoons came 
out of the man’s wallet, which seemed to 
be a regular kitchen cabinet by itself, so 
many different things did he abstract from 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


159 


it. A knife and fork, which you are al- 
ready acquainted with, three spoons — 
one big, one little, and one middle-sized 
— then a salt and a pepper cruet, and a 
little bag two thirds full of sugar, a roll 
of butter wrapped up in a cabbage leaf, a 
tin of tea — which was put back as it was 
not needed — four twisted loaves of white 
bread, and an oily paper full of sliced 
breakfast bacon, also another slightly less 
oily paper around a slab of cheese, one 
tin plate, the coffee, and last of all a 
screw-top can of tobacco. 

When the coffee-pot was boiling mer- 
rily, the children unfastened their tin of 
biscuits and spread them out in a line 
close to the fire, so that they might get 
warm and crusty. 

“How do we cook the mushrooms?” 
asked Joan, as she laid the last of the bis- 
cuits down upon a green leaf, quite near 
to the flames. “ Are they hard to 
fix?” 


160 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

The man shook his head. “No,” he 
said. “They are quite easy to prepare. 
I hope you both like broiled mushrooms 
better than stewed ones, because ours will 
have to be the broiled variety, as the 
stewed ones call for milk in their recipe, 
which we have n’t got.” 

“ Oh, we like broiled ones fine,” said 
the twins, together. “ What shall we do 
first?” 

“Well, the first thing,” said the man, 
“is to peel them this way.” And he 
reached over and took one of the stew- 
pans, filled with the mushrooms, into his 
lap, and commenced to rapidly remove 
the skins. 

“ Let us help,” begged Joan. She and 
her brother knelt down at either side of 
their new friend and followed his ex- 
ample ; the three of them soon finished 
the first panful and then commenced upon 
the second. When this second supply 
was only half peeled, the man said that 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


161 


that would be enough to feed an army all 
night, and that they had better save the 
rest for breakfast. So Jock carried those 
that were not to be eaten till morning 
over to the spring and placed them in a 
cool spot, so that they would be fresh and 
crisp next day. 

He had no sooner done this, and had 
turned to go back to the fire, when Joan 
came running up with a gourd water- 
bottle in her hand. 

“ Wait a minute till I can fill this ! ” she 
cried, dipping the bottle down into the 
spring and holding it there, until all the 
air bubbles had sprung out of its top. 
“ I did n’t want to stay over here in 
the dark by myself,” she explained, as 
Jock took the now full bottle from her. 
And it was well he did, for just as she fin- 
ished speaking, she suddenly gave a leap 
and screamed wildly, “ Oh, what is that ! 
Oh, what is that ! 00 00 OH 7 ” 

“What is what?” demanded Jock. 


162 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ Can’t you tell me what you are howling 
about ? ” 

Joan stood on her tiptoes and wrapped 
her cape close about her. “ It ’s a giant 
rat,” she whispered, with chattering teeth. 
“ It ’s as big as a cat. It went over 
there.” She pointed towards a clump of 
ferns. “ Oh, oh, oh ! Can’t you see its 
tail wiggling?” Jock looked in the di- 
rection where she pointed, and sure 
enough, protruding from behind the ferns 
and weeds, appeared what looked like the 
hairless tail of an enormous rat. 

“ Keep perfectly still,” he murmured to 
his twin. “ I ’ll fix it all right.” He 
cautiously drew forth his cap-pistol out of 
his belt and then, advancing a step, he 
fired : “ Bang ! ” 

Joan shut her eyes tight and put her 
hands up against her ears. But even 
then she could hear the pistol blazing 
away. “ Bang ! Bang ! ” until the en- 
tire roll of caps was exploded. When 



HE CAUTIOUSLY DREW FORTH HIS CAP-PISTOL OUT OF HIS BELT 

Page 162 . 


























THE CRYSTAL BALL 


163 


she had counted twelve explosions, she 
dared to remove her hands and open her 
eyes, and then looked timidly towards the 
spot where she had last seen the mon- 
strous creature. 

“ It ’s gone ! ” said Jock, and he patted 
her reassuringly upon the shoulder. “ At 
the very first bang it started to run. But 
I must say that it was the queerest kind 
of a rat that I ever saw. It was so big, 
and its fur was so long, and it did n’t 
seem able to go very fast, although it 
wanted to.” 

“Yes, it was queer,” agreed Joan. 
“And did you notice its fur was not 
only long, but parts of it were white, 
and other parts were light and dark 
gray ? ” 

Jock nodded. “Indeed,” he said, “it 
was a very strange rat. Let ’s go back 
to the fire now.” 

When they had handed the man the 
gourd water-bottle, and he had poured its 


164 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


contents into the panful of mushrooms 
and then added a pinch of salt to make 
them tender, Jock asked him if he had 
heard Joan scream. The man laughed. 

"Well,” he said, "I am not what any 
one would call absolutely deaf, although 
there is no telling how soon I will be, if 
my eardrums have to stand many more 
noises such as they have had to endure in 
the last few moments. What was all the 
excitement about? Did anything bite 
you ? ” 

Joan looked a little foolish. "No, 
nothing bit me,” she said. "But we 
had an exciting adventure, did n’t we, 
Jock?” 

" ’T was a great big rat as big as ten 
rats put together,” explained Jock. " And 
its hair was real long and fluffy, and it 
was n’t all gray like a rat is, but was part 
white, and some of it was almost black. 
I shot off my cap-pistol to frighten it 
away.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


165 


“ IT in /” said the man. “I was just 
straining my memory to find out if this 
was Guy Faux Day, or the Fourth of 
July, so as to account for the gay pop- 
ping of pistols. I suppose you recognize 
this wonderful rat by his long, hairless 
tail, eh ? ” Then, as if he could control 
himself no longer, the man broke out into 
a loud and uproarious laugh. “Ha, ha, 
ha ! Ho, ho ! ” 

The children looked at him in startled 
amazement. When at last his mirth had 
spent itself, and he had wiped the tears 
of glee from his eyes with the back of his 
hand, he explained himself by saying : 

“ What you saw was n’t a giant rat at 
all, but only a poor harmless little ’pos- 
sum, who crawled down out of that big 
maple tree yonder where he had been 
sleeping peacefully until we came and 
built a fire under his tree, which natu- 
rally smoked him out, and at the same 
time gave him a monstrous thirst, which 


166 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


he was on the way to quench at the 
spring, when you frightened him away.” 

“ Oh, what a pity we scared him before 
he could get his water,” said Joan, with 
a sigh. “You saw him crawl down a 
tree, didn’t you? And don’t you think 
it was natural for us to have mistaken 
him for a big rat ? ” 

“Yes, I do think so,” agreed the man. 
“ Especially if you had never seen a ’pos- 
sum before. But he was a ’possum, all 
right, and no mistake, for I had a good 
look at him as he was coming down the 
tree. Suppose now we devote our atten- 
tion to our supper instead of ’possum 
adventures.” The man then took the 
largest of the stewpans and dropped a 
lump of butter in it ; then he shook in a 
little salt and pepper and set it upon the 
fire to broil. When the butter had melted 
and spread out upon the bottom of the 
pan, and the first tiny bubbles had begun 
to form around the edge, in went the 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 167 

mushrooms, which first had the salt and 
water carefully drained off. The man 
handed J oan a spoon and said : 

“ Don’t let them burn and try not to 
stir them any more than you have to.” 

Then he took the other pan, and 
placed half a dozen strips of bacon in it, 
and told Jock to watch and see that it 
did not catch on fire, while he sliced one 
of his loaves of bread. Rex, the white 
wolfhound, sauntered into the camp and 
stretched himself out by the fire, of which 
he seemed to highly approve, judging by 
the manner in which he thumped his tail. 
Or maybe it was the bacon that he liked, 
for he kept his pretty brown eyes turned 
unblinkingly upon it. 

When at last everything was cooked to 
a turn, the twins and their tinker friend 
seated themselves for their supper. The 
man gave Joan the one and only tin 
plate, while he and Jock contented them- 
selves with eating out of the two stew- 


168 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


pans. Everything was delicious. The 
toasted biscuits, the crisp breakfast bacon, 
the cold sliced bread and butter, and 
oh , the mushrooms, and ah, the coffee ! 
Why, it was one of the very best-tasting 
suppers that the twins had ever eaten, 
and they both said so, too, as they emp- 
tied their tin cups of coffee for the second 
time. The man’s cup wasn’t a lovely 
folding one, like those the children had 
brought with them from the royal palace 
of Moondom, but he did not mind that, 
as his held more. 

Eex had not been forgotten, and was 
placidly munching his supper of sliced 
bread, dipped in bacon gravy, when Joan, 
spreading her fingers over her mouth to 
hide a yawn, said : “ Don’t let ’s wash the 
dishes till morning, for I am so sleepy 
that I am sure I should fall into the 
spring and be drowned if I tried to wash 
them there to-night.” 

Jock put his hands up to his eyelids 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 169 

and pretended he was holding them open 
that way. 

“ If I let go a second,” he said, “I ’ll 
he asleep.” The man laughed, and un- 
rolling his blankets, he tossed one of 
them to the hoy. “You brats snuggle 
up in that,” he directed, “while I wrap 
myself in this other.” 



When the gray dawn had at last 
sifted in between the leaves and turned 
the glowing red embers of the camp fire 
to its own shadowy shade, the man 
awoke and scratched himself with one or 
two vigorous jerks. He slowly wriggled 
from out the warmth of his blanket, like 
some large moth emerging from its co- 
coon. Then he aroused the sleeping 
twins and together they set to work to 
rebuild the fire, which was quite a hard 
task, as they had already used up most 
of the kindling wood which they had 
collected with such care the night before, 
and they had also burnt most of the 
dried leaves that were nearest to the 
camp. But after some little time, dur- 



THE CRYSTAL BALL 


171 


ing which there had been a great deal 
of skurrying back and forth amongst the 
trees, the fire was accomplished, and 
when they all three stood warming their 
stiff fingers at its crackling blaze, the 
man chuckled and said : 

“Well, this feels good, eh, brats?” 
The children nodded. “Yet we can’t 
stay here all day warming ourselves,” 
continued the man, “if we want to get 
out of this forest by noon.” 

“Which we certainly do,” interrupted 
Jock. 

“We won’t have much time to spend 
on breakfast, so if you are both agree- 
able, we will just have some bread and 
butter, with a pot of nice, hot tea, for 
they won’t take long to make, or to eat, 
either,” ended the man with a grin. 

“ But what shall we do with the mush- 
rooms which were left from supper?” 
asked Joan. “It would be a pity to 
waste them.” 


172 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ They shan’t be wasted,” answered 
the man. “ So don’t worry your small 
head about them further, for I tell you 
they shall be disposed of where they’ll 
be most useful.” 

Joan brought the vegetables to him, 
and with a wink, he emptied them into 
his wallet. Then she and Jock washed 
the pots and pans, cups and spoons that 
they had left soiled from last night’s tea 
at the spring, and then dried them by the 
fire. In the meanwhile, the man had 
brewed a strong pot of tea, in his coffee- 
pot, and sliced a loaf of bread, buttering 
each piece as it was cut. When these 
various tasks were successfully com- 
pleted, he called the children, and the 
trio seated themselves to eat their modest 
breakfast, which was soon disposed of. 

“ Now we shall pack up our things and 
start on our journey again, shan’t w el” 
cried Joan, as the last vestige of breakfast 
disappeared. She hopped up and down 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


173 


excitedly, hardly knowing where to begin 
the packing. 

“Here,” called Jock, “here, stop 
bouncing about like a rubber ball, and 
come and help me roll these blankets up 
tight.” 

“ Now that ’s done, what shall we do 
next ? ” asked Joan. The man looked up 
from the packing of his wallet and told 
them that they had best go and fetch 
some water from the spring to put out 
the fire, and also not to forget to refill 
their gourd water-bottle at the same time. 
They worked busily, and soon everything 
was ready for their start. 

“ Heave-ho, here we go,” sang the 
man, while he stulfed a handful of leaves 
under the straps of his wallet where they 
crossed his shoulders. He whistled for 
Rex, who, having no fondness for but- 
tered bread and tea, had decided to get 
his own breakfast. I don’t know what 
he found, and so I can’t tell you, but he 


174 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


seemed perfectly satisfied when he came 
bounding back in response to his master’s 
whistle. The whole party were in high 
spirits to be once again upon the march, 
and as they stepped out upon the winding 
pathway, Jock observed, with a chuckle 
of glee, that he really felt as though he 
ought to wish the path “ Good-day ”, as 
it was such a dear old acquaintance of 
theirs. 

“This is just the way I feel, too,” 
agreed Joan, “for it certainly seems like 
an age since we turned off the highway 
and first made its acquaintance.” 

“ Hi ! brats, keep in step,” ordered the 
man, and he drew his pipe out from his 
trousers pocket and filled and lit it as he 
walked. Jock watched him with interest, 
and when the fragrant puffs of smoke 
commenced to drift up into the air, and a 
most satisfied and contented expression 
spread over the man’s face, the boy 
sighed, and said : 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


175 


“ Sometimes I wish I was big.” 

“ Why ? ” good-naturedly queried the 
tinker. 

“ Because, when I ’m big, I ’m always 
going to smoke a pipe, and it ’s going 
to be a corncob one, too. Our watchman 
at the palace, Harold, he smokes a briar 
pipe, and so does the head groom, but 
some of the stableboys have corncob ones, 
like yours, and that ’s the kind for me.” 

“ Won’t you ever, ever smoke cigars?” 
asked Joan. “ Father always smokes 
cigars, and the bands that come around 
them are so pretty.” 

“ No, nothing but a pipe for me,” said 
Jock, and he swaggered and drew imagi- 
nary draughts of smoke through clenched 
teeth as he strutted along. 

“ Bight you are,” nodded the man. “A 
corncob pipe is the proper thing to 
smoke, without a doubt.” 

“ Father has promised to give Jock a 
real, live horse, all for himself, if he don’t 


176 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


smoke a single pipe, cigar, or cigarette 
until he is twenty-one years old,” said 
Joan to the man, who laughed and 
laughed, and asked : “ What about corn- 
silk cigarettes ? Are they also under the 
ban? ” 

“Yes,” said Jock; “it’s on all smok- 
ing tobacco, corn-silk, cubebs, and dried 
buckeye leaves.” The man solemnly 
wagged his head. “ Oh, well,” he said, 
“I suppose a real, live horse, all for 
yourself, is worth it. Have you decided 
just what variety of charger you will 
choose when that wonderful time comes?” 

“ I have thought about it a great deal,” 
confided Jock, “and my horse is to be 
a cream-colored one, with a white mane 
and tail. They are the most beautiful of 
all the different kinds of horses, I think.” 

“So do I,” said Joan. “And you do, 
too, don’t you ? ” sh e asked, appealing to 
the man, who nodded. “ Agreed,” he 
said and continued to smoke in silence, 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


177 


until the tobacco in his pipe had burnt to 
a white dust. “ Now that ’s finished,” he 
said, as he carefully tapped the corncob 
bowl against his knuckles, to rid it of its 
ashes, before dropping it back into the 
pocket of his trousers. “ As I was say- 
ing,” he went on, “ that ’s finished, so let ’s 
talk some more about horses, eh? Well, 
a horse,” he continued, “ is not only one 
of the prettiest things on earth — I mean 
a real blue-ribbon horse like you are going 
to get on your twenty-first birthday — 
but after a dog it ’s the creature that 
creeps the farthest into a man’s heart. 
I don’t know why it is, but it ’s most 
certainly so.” 

“ Maybe,” observed Jock, “ it ’s because 
they ’re so smart.” 

“No,” said the man, “it can’t be that, 
for you see there are lots of animals and 
insects that are much smarter, for in- 
stance, bees. Now, bees are very clever 
things. They have their own govern- 


178 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


ment and manage it so well that no one 
ever hears them buzzing around at so- 
cialist meetings, talking about having a 
President bee, instead of a Queen bee, 
and the Queen bee she’s a Majesty, all 
right. She believes so thoroughly in all 
of her subjects working that she has the 
death penalty applied to any and every 
drone that ’s found in her kingdom.” 

“I believe,” observed Jock, “that they 
are the smartest of all the animals and 
insects.” 

“Well, now, I don’t know about that,” 
responded the man, “for there are beavers, 
who can build dams just as well as a 
person could, and then there are ants, — 
why, do you know that ants have armies 
and policemen of their own, and herds 
of cows and storerooms to lay up vittles 
for winter in ? And they build roads to 
travel on, and dig ant-hills to live in! 
There are many other things that ants 
know and can do.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


179 


“ They must be the smartest of all,” 
cried Joan. The man shook his head, 
and said : “ It ’s hard to tell, for every- 

where you search you will find little 
creatures going about their business and 
doing all sorts of interesting things, in 
the air, and in the sea, and on the land.” 

They had all three been so busy talk- 
ing and walking that no one had noticed 
how much brighter things looked, and 
how the twilight gloom of the great forest 
had changed to broad daylight, until 
Joan suddenly stopped, and clapped her 
hands together. 

“Look, there ’s a great big piece of 
sunlight spread right out on the path ! ” 
she cried. 

“ Why, so it is,” said the tinker, look- 
ing fixedly at the warm patch of yellow 
light, and then up into the blue sky that 
showed between the tree tops. “We 
will get out of this forest sooner than I 
calculated we would. See how far apart 


180 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


the trees are growing, and there goes a 
butterfly,” he concluded. 

“ Do butterflies and trees far apart 
mean that this is truly the end of the 
great forest ? ” eagerly asked Joan. 

“Yes,” said the man, “they’re the 
most positive proof.” He and the twins 
almost doubled their pace, so anxious 
were they to be once more out in the 
open, and Rex seemed to be as much in- 
fected with excitement as the others, for 
he would run a little way forwards, yelp, 
and then run back to his master, as much 
as to say : “ Please try to hurry up a little 
bit more.” When he had repeated this 
manoeuver several times, he unexpectedly 
changed his yelp into frantic barking, and 
instead of returning to the man, as for- 
merly, he stopped perfectly still and tense, 
while the hair upon his back and neck be- 
gan ruffling up on end. 

“ Why, I wonder what makes Rex act 
so queer ? ” questioned Joan. “ He seems 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


181 


to be angered or frightened at something. 
You don’t suppose it could be some sort 
of a savage animal, a bear or wolf, for 
instance, do you?” As she said the 
words “bear” or “wolf”, Jock’s hand 
crept valiantly to his hatchet, so that he 
might be ready for any emergency. They 
both looked up inquiringly at the man. 
He shook his head with a grin. “ I think 
not,” he said. “ It ’s a great deal more 
likely that Rex has found a hoptoad or a 
garter snake.” 

“ Oh, a big, brave dog like him 
would n’t be afraid of a hoptoad, or a 
little snake, either,” said Jock, indignant 
that the wolfhound’s courage should be 
questioned in any such manner. “ I know 
it would take something much larger and 
fiercer to disturb him so much.” 

Jock’s surmise turned out to be correct. 
For when the three friends came up to 
where the dog stood, barking and brist- 
ling, they could plainly see between the 


182 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


trees an enormous sweep of dry, brown 
plains, and right in a line with their eyes, 
almost at the edge of the great forest, 
stood a big yellow van, with a pair of 
horses of the variety known as “flea- 
bitten grays,” each with his nose deeply 
buried in a flour sack of grain, picketed 
to the shafts. There were also three 
or four mongrel-looking dogs, prowling 
about underneath the body of the van, 
from the far side of which arose a great 
spire of smoke. 

“ It ’s a gypsy camp,” announced the 
man, after looking hard for some seconds, 
with his hand shading his eyes, “yes, 
that ’s what it is, a gypsy camp.” The 
twins stood on tiptoe, the better to see. 

“ Sure-’nough gypsies ! ” breathed Jock 
to himself, while Joan could only gaze 
with awed and shining eyes. 

“ Come on, brats, we ’re almost out of 
this forest,” said the man, giving them 
each a friendly little shove. Patting Rex 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


183 


upon the head, he tried to soothe him 
with “ Good Rex ! Fine old dog ! Nice 
old boy ! ” but the white wolfhound con- 
tinued to bristle. “ Why, Rex, you don’t 
mind a few gypsies, do you ? ” The man 
made his voice as reassuring as he pos- 
sibly could. “ They ’re nothing but gyp- 
sies, Rex, just gypsies.” The dog at last 
seemed pacified, for he wagged his tail 
and drew his rough pink tongue across 
his master’s hand, to show that he was 
now willing to go on. They hurried 
eagerly forward. The children were so 
interested in peeping through the tree 
trunks for a glimpse of the yellow van 
that they would fall over their own feet, 
and bump into Rex and the man, who 
cried, when Jock had come very near 
knocking him off the path, for the second 
time : 

“Hi! Watch out what you are doing. 
The gypsy camp won’t run away before 
we get there.” 


184 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


Jock blushed. “I beg your pardon,” 
he said. “ I was n’t thinking what I was 
doing.” 

“ All right,” laughed the tinker. “ But 
you brats need n’t hurry me at such a 
rapid trot. I ’m quite breathless. What ’s 
become of all your chatter ? ” he pres- 
ently asked, when they were going at a 
more leisurely pace. “You both are 
quieter than you have been all the time 
I have known you, except last night, 
when you were asleep. And even then, 
Jock would persist in murmuring : 4 Crys- 
tal ball ! Mushrooms ! Deeds of valor ! ’ 
or some such nonsensical talk. But here 
you have been prancing along for almost 
five minutes without even saying a word, 
so that you make me think that you are 
not really glad to be getting out of this 
great forest after all.” 

“ Oh, yes, we are ! ” cried the twins 
together. “We are delighted.” 

“ And the only reason that we have n’t 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 185 

been talking,” explained Joan, “is be- 
cause we are so very, very delighted and 
thrilled at getting out of the forest and 
finding gypsies at once. Is n’t that so, 
Jock?” Jock solemnly nodded to the 
man. “You see,” he remarked, “either 
one would be a great, big, grand adven- 
ture by itself. But getting out and 
gypsies both together are perfectly won- 
derful.” 

“ Humph ! ” said the man. “ I don’t 
see how you brats can find any wonder- 
ful adventure in a gang of greasy, grimy 
gypsies. But here we are. Now let ’s 
see if you will think them as fine on close 
acquaintance.” 



The gypsies proved to be just as de- 
lightful as the children had hoped, and 
although the van did not look quite as 
royal and golden a color, when they 
stood close beside it, that was a small 
matter, for what was lacking in paint and 
varnish was made up by the numerous 
drawings on all its four sides, burnt into 
it with a red-hot poker. The gypsy 
party consisted of seven persons, — old 
Mr. and Mrs. Gypsy, their daughter, a 
girl of about twelve years, and three small 
sons, and last, but not least, the fat gypsy 
baby (whom Joan fell in love with the 
very first moment she espied it, for it was 
so cunning with its little head tied up in 
a colored handkerchief and four or five 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


187 


strings of glass beads wrapped around 
and around the crease that showed where 
its neck would be when it grew older). 

Just as the twins and the man stepped 
out from the very last of the bushes that 
fringed the great forest, all of the dogs 
that lay under the van arose and rushed 
forward with yelps and snarls. Old Mr. 
Gypsy, who was seated with one of the 
small boys in the doorway of the wagon, 
when the baying began, put down his 
dice cup (he was instructing his son in the 
gypsy art of crap-shooting), and arose to 
his feet, crying, “ Down, dog, down ! 
Still, hound, still ! ” until the dogs slunk 
back under the van, thinking as they saw 
the gigantic Rex closer, that the old say- 
ing, “ It ’s always best to be polite,” was 
not such bad advice to follow. 

Mr. Gypsy gravely saluted the children 
and their friends and bade them take a seat. 

“ Thank you,” said Jock, “but we 
want to look around first, if you don’t 


188 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


mind, for we have never in all our lives 
seen a beautiful house-cart like this, close, 
before. So won’t you show us everything 
about it, please.” 

Their friend, the tinker laughed. 
“ That ’s a mighty big order you ’re giv- 
ing Mr. Gypsy,” he said, as he rubbed the 
back of Hex’s ears gently, to keep him 
from growling. 

“Well, I’ll tell you what,” said Mr. 
Gypsy, “ I ’ll take you around to the 
other side of the wagon and let the Madam 
and the young ones do the showing about, 
for the weather is entirely too hot for me 
to exert myself. I might get sunstroke if 
I did,” he explained, as he led them to 
where Mrs. Gypsy was seated. She was 
busily engaged in weaving a large black 
and tan basket out of some colored twine 
and willow switches. She laid down her 
work and looked rather suspiciously at 
the twins, when Mr. Gypsy told her their 
request, “to be shown everything.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


189 


She was soon mollified by their evident 
delight and admiration over the various 
and, to herself, everyday objects of a 
gypsy van. When everything had been 
duly admired, and the chubby gypsy baby 
had been played with, bounced, and 
tickled to the twins’ and its own most en- 
tire satisfaction, the man said to the chil- 
dren that he thought it high time for them 
to commence moving onward once again. 

“ Very well, we ’ll start off in just a 
moment,” said Jock. “ Let’s only wait 
until I can ask Mrs. Gypsy if she or any 
of her family know the way to the 
Garden of the Sun.” 

When the question was asked the 
gypsy woman, she threw back her head, 
shut her eyes tight, and thought hard for 
as long a time as it would take for you 
to count twenty-five. At the end of this 
period, she reopened her eyes with a jerk 
and said: “I have pondered your ques- 
tion long and seriously, and I cannot 


190 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


truthfully say that I have any recollec- 
tions as to the direction in which lies the 
Garden of the Sun. Nor can I say how 
you should proceed to get there, though 
many is the time that I have heard of 
this garden of beauty and delight.” 

“We looked in the school atlas at 
home before we started,” said Joan, with 
a tiny sigh, “ and found there that the 
way to go was first to the East, and then 
to the West, and keep on till we get 
there. And we have done just as it said, 
but we haven’t gotten there yet.” 

Mrs. Gypsy looked sympathetically at 
the twins and tapped her front teeth with 
the forefinger of her right hand, in a 
grave and musing manner. 

“I have an inspiration,” she said at 
last, “ an idea.” 

“ What is it ? Please tell it to us, can’t 
you?” begged the children, who rightly 
suspected it had something to do with the 
Garden of the Sun. “ Tell us ! ” 




THE CRYSTAL BALL 


191 


“Well,” solemnly said Mrs. Gypsy, “I 
suppose you both have heard tell of 
fortune-reading, eh ? ” 

“Yes,” nodded the twins. 

“And,” she continued, “you also know 
that the only real true fortune tellers 
are amongst my people, the gypsy 
tribe % ” 

Again the children nodded. “ Very 
good, now we can get down to business. 
If I could have the palm of my hand 
crossed once or twice with gold, I could 
then look deep into the mysteries of the 
world and find out the way to the Garden 
of the Sun for you. Shall I try it, yes 
or no ? ” 

“Yes, yes!” cried the children ex- 
citedly. “ And won’t you please be just 
as quick as you possibly can about it ? ” 
begged Joan. “For Father’s birthday is 
the day after to-morrow and we do so 
want to get to the Garden of the Sun 
before that time. Can’t you begin to 


192 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


make the magic to find out the way this 
very minute ? ” pleaded Jock. 

The gypsy woman shook her head. 
“You must have patience,” she said, “for 
there will have to be important prepara- 
tions made before the mighty, mysterious 
veil that hides the future and drapes the 
unknown can be withdrawn. Also you 
must remember that the first object is to 
have the piece of gold to cross the palm 
of my hand with. This you must supply, 
for there is no fleck of gold anywhere in 
or about the van. And without it, all is 
nought.” When she had finished speak- 
ing, the twins looked questioningly at 
each other. 

“ Oh, what can we do, Jock,” moaned 
Joan, almost ready to weep with vexation 
and disappoinment. 

“What can we do?” Jock hopelessly 
dug his hands deep into his trouser 
pockets. But it was of no use, for he 
could only feel his jackknife, some string, 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 193 

a couple of foreign stamps, which he in- 
tended to glue in his postage album some 
day, three marbles, and a lot of crumbs, 
— but no gold. He turned to the gypsy 
woman and explained that neither his 
sister nor himself had any gold pieces 
with them. 

“That’s a great misfortune,” she said, 
looking almost as sad about it as the 
twins themselves. “ It is a great misfor- 
tune, but we might try with silver. Who 
knows but maybe that would prove satis- 
factory ? ” 

“ But we have n’t any silver here,” 
said Jock. 

“ The man might have some, so you 
run and ask him,” ordered Joan to her 
twin, “ for I am sure he will lend it to 
us, if he has any.” 

While the children had been talking 
to Mrs. Gypsy, the tinker and Rex had 
moved quite away from the yellow van 
and were now seated upon a boulder at 


194 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


a distance of a hundred yards, — I mean, 
the man was seated upon the boulder. 
Rex was lying at his feet, waiting for the 
twins to join them, so that they might 
start onward once more. 

As J ock rushed up to where they were 
waiting, he called out to the tinker, to 
ask him if he had any gold or silver with 
him. 

“ Do you think, brat, that I mend old 
worn-out pots and pans with gold and 
silver?” laughed the man. “ Lead and 
tin solder is what I use in my business. 
Don’t you remember, I told you that I 
was a tinker, not a banker, which you 
probably have mistaken me for. Gold or 
silver about me, — ha-ha-ha ! ” 

“ I mean money,” explained Jock. 

“ No gold or silver, or nickel, or copper 
money can be found anywhere upon my 
person, search where you may, from my 
head to my heels.” 

Before the man had half finished speak- 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


195 


ing, J ock was running back to the yellow 
van. “ Hi ! ” yelled the tinker after him, 
“when are you brats going to start? I 
can’t wait here all day.” 

The boy called back pleadingly over 
his shoulder as he ran. 

“ Oh, please wait just a teeny, tiny 
little time for us, won’t you ? Mrs. Gypsy 
is going to try some fortune-telling, so as 
to see if she can find the quickest way to 
the Garden of the Sun.” 

He saw Joan waiting expectantly, and 
so he held up his empty hands to show 
that he had been unsuccessful, before he 
panted out : 

“ The man has n’t got a cent of money, 
but say, Joan, have n’t you got some gold 
pins or buttons in your clothes some- 
where ? ” 

“Why, of course I have,” cried Joan. 
“ Why did n’t I think of them before. 
Oh, Jock, you are so very smart,” and 
she began fumbling with the little gold 


196 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


safety pins that fastened her frock to- 
gether at the back. “They will do to 
cross the palm with, won’t they ? ” she 
anxiously asked the gypsy woman, as she 
held them both up for her inspection. 

Mrs. Gypsy looked at the pins criti- 
cally. 

“If they are pure gold,” she said, 
“ they will be perfectly satisfactory.” 

“Yes, they are pure gold,” eagerly 
answered Joan. “ Santa Claus brought 
them to me last Christmas. They were 
way down in the very tiptoe of my 
stocking, inside a little box filled with 
pink cotton.” 

“ Then they will do,” agreed Mrs. 
Gypsy. “Now, I will go into the van 
and get everything ready for the fortune 
telling. You children must wait out here 
until I call.” 

She stepped up into the yellow van 
and closed the door behind her. The 
twins waited in silence for a few moments. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


197 


Their ears strained to catch the slightest 
sound. 

“ Rats ! ” said Jock at last. “ Let ’s 
talk, for there ’s no telling how long it will 
take for her to fix things. I hope the 
man won’t get tired of waiting for us 
and go off with Rex, before we can join 
him.” 

“ No, he won’t do that,” whispered Joan. 
“ He ’s such a nice man. When we get 
back to the palace, let’s ask Father to 
give him a whole lot of money, so he 
can always have some in his pocket.” 

“ That ’s a splendid idea,” agreed Jock. 
“ And we must n’t forget about it. It 
would be so nice next time we wanted to 
borrow a gold piece in a hurry for him 
to be able to reach down into his pocket 
and bring out a big handful of money, 
gold and silver, copper and nickel, and 
say: 

“‘Just help yourselves, brats.’ You 
know that would be fun for him. Is n’t 


198 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


Mrs. Gypsy taking a long time to get 
things ready 1 ” 

As if in answer to his query, a muffled 
voice cried from the depths of the yellow 
van : “ All ’s ready.” 

“ Now ’s the time to go in, or come in, 
— which ? ” said the boy, and he put his 
hand upon the door-knob. “ Say, Joan,” 
he murmured, “you aren’t scared, are 
you ? ” 

“I don’t know whether I am or not,” 
Joan answered. “But suppose you go 
first,” and she sidled up closer to him as 
he pushed the door open. They found 
the interior of the van quite dark, for 
heavy stuff curtains had been securely 
drawn across the small, slatted openings 
that served for windows. Mrs. Gypsy 
was seated cross-legged upon the floor, 
wrapped in a black and orange robe, 
which was covered with symbolic figures 
of a very witchy style. About her head 
were wound three colored bands, one red, 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


199 


one green, and one yellow ; and upon the 
center of her forehead shone a large black 
star cut from sticking plaster. Placed 
before her on the floor was a tin basin, 
full to the brim with water, a pack of 
playing cards, three lit candles in a row, 
and a joss-stick, smouldering in an empty 
tumbler. 

When the dazed children stepped hesi- 
tatingly into the van, she waved her 
finger majestically at them, and then, 
pointing towards the door, bade Jock in 
a hoarse and rasping whisper : 

“ Close that door softly and then seat 
yourself and your sister right before me, 
where I can look you in the eyes. And 
if you value your life, do not move or 
speak, unless you Ye questioned.” 

No sooner had the twins done as she 
had directed, than she closed her eyes, 
opened her mouth, and hanging her 
head down until it rested upon her 
chest, she rocked her body violently back- 


200 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

wards and forwards, while she moaned 

and groaned. 

The children were naturally frightened 
at this eerie proceeding, and they could n’t 
help drawing a little closer together, al- 
though Mrs. Gypsy had warned them not 
to stir. 

“ Be still ! ” she hissed, as she noticed 
the movement, “ or you will drive the 
magic away before we can find out what 
you desire to know. Now each of you 
must take a bit of gold in your left hand, 
immerse it in the water vessel, and keep 
it there until I have read the cards. By 
all means do not move or speak, for the 
magic spirits demand absolute silence.” 

Jock and Joan sat as if turned to stone, 
so still were they, each with one of the 
little gold safety pins clasped tightly in 
the hand that lay in the basin of water. 
Mrs. Gypsy fumbled the cards and mur- 
mured to herself in what seemed to the 
twins’ ears a strange and fearful language. 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 201 

When they were beginning to think that 
they would not be able to stand the strain 
much longer, but would just have to 
wiggle, whether it broke the charm or 
not, she said : “ Now take the gold, and 
cross my palms with it, and then drop it 
into the water.” 

They did so. As the pin splashed into 
the basin, she arose to her feet, turned 
around three times, crying in a loud 
voice at each turn : “ Hokus, pokus, 

hokus ! ” Then dropping to the floor, she 
lay as if completely exhausted. She 
breathed heavily for a few moments, and 
then sat up, smoothed the colored bands 
which bound her forehead, and said : “It 
is completed. The magic cards say that 
you must walk to the edge of the plains, 
and there you will see a large white castle 
which you will enter, for it is inside this 
castle that you will find further instruc- 
tions to show you the way to the Garden 
of the Sun.” Then, stamping her feet 


202 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


and clapping her hands together, she 
shouted : “ Hasten and begone ! ” 

The children needed no urging, but 
scrambled through the door, and rushed 
across the plains as fast as their legs 
could carry them to where the man and 
Rex were waiting. 

“We must hasten on at once,” an- 
nounced Jock, as they drew up by their 
friend. 

“ I ’m glad to hear it,” answered the 
man, “ for I was beginning to think 
that you brats had decided to join the 
gypsy tribe for good. You stayed so 
long.” 

“ The reason of that,” explained Joan, 
as they moved onwards once more, “ was 
because Mrs. Gypsy was making some 
magic in the yellow van for us to find out 
the way to the Garden of the Sun.” 

“ And she found it, too,” put in Jock. 
“We are to go to the end of these plains, 
and there we will see a white castle, and 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


203 


inside this castle we are to get further 
instructions how to go.” 

“ Why, I know the big white castle,” 
said the man. “ Many ’s the time that 
I Ve passed it on my numerous journeys. 
It is the home of the beautiful Lady 
Imogen. Well, now, if you will keep a 
sharp watch-out, in just a little while 
you will see the white turrets gleaming 
against the sky.” 

The children were charmed to know 
this, and J ock asked the man if he ’d 
ever been inside the castle walls. “ No,” 
the man responded, “ I never have, for in 
a great place like that, there is always 
a permanent tinker who tinkers all the 
holes in the pots and pans. Therefore 
there will be no need for me to go inside 
the walls. And so, when we arrive at 
the gate, Rex and I will have to bid 
you brats a fond adieu. But here ’& the 
castle ! ” pointing towards a fairylike white 
structure that appeared upon the horizon. 


204 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ Oh, how lovely it is ! ” cried the 
twins together. “ And yet it is n’t so 
very large,” continued Jock, as he gazed, 
“and Mrs. Gypsy said a large white 
castle ! ” 

The man laughed. “You will find it 
large enough, when you get close to it,” 
he said. “ That castle is almost a mile 
away.” 

It was a good long mile the little party 
had to walk before they drew up at the 
castle gate, and Jock struck the big 
silver gong that let the inmates know 
strangers were waiting for admittance. 

“Rex and I must hurry on now, so 
good-by and good luck,” said the man, 
as he shook the children by the hand. 
“ Good luck, yourself,” they responded, 
“and good-by. You must come and see 
us, the next time you pass the Moondom 
Palace. Now don’t forget. Good-by, 
and good-by to Rex, too.” 



JOCK STRUCK THE BIG SILVER GONG. 


Page 204- 









Clank ! The gate of the white castle 
swung open, and the twins found them- 
selves confronting a gigantic Ethiopian 
slave. He was as black as a crow and 
was made to appear even blacker by 
contrast with his dress, which was snowy 
white, except for a stripe of silver that 
bordered his tunic. 

The children looked at him with cu- 
riosity and interest; for they had never 
seen a black before. Jock raised his 
hand and whispered behind it to his 
twin : “ Do you suppose that he can 

wash without any of it rubbing off on 
the towels ? ” 

“Hush!” breathed Joan. “He will 
hear you and have his feelings hurt.” 


206 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

The black made a low salaam and 
said : “ My mistress, the Lady Imogen, 
awaits you, so follow me.” 

The twins looked at each other in 
amazement. “ How did Lady Imogen 
know we were coming to see her ? ” asked 
Jock, as they stepped within the gateway 
and on to a marble paved court. 

“ She espied you from the window of 
her round tower,” the black answered. 
“ She has been watching you come across 
the plains for a long time with a pair of 
field glasses.” 

They passed across the cool marble 
pavement and threaded their way among 
the potted plants until they came to an- 
other gateway, which was of silver gilt 
and richly carved. When this, too, was 
passed and when they had climbed up a 
flight of marble steps, they found them- 
selves upon a long grass-covered terrace 
that stretched up to the very walls of the 
castle. These walls were even more 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


207 


beautifully and elaborately carved than 
the steps and gate, although those were 
sumptuous, and they made the white 
castle appear more fairy-like on close 
inspection than it had at a distance, in 
spite of its gigantic size. For as you 
remember, the gypsy woman told the 
children that it was a large white castle, 
and she knew what she was talking about 
when she said so, too. 

When the black had pushed open the 
big silver-studded front door, and had 
guided the children through the vestibule 
and across the dim hall, he drew up at 
the foot of a spiral staircase that led 
to the upper floor, and asked : “ Who 
am I to announce to the fair Lady 
Imogen ? ” 

“ Prince Jock and Princess Joan of 
Moondom,” said Jock, brushing his hair 
with his hand and pulling his belt 
straight. 

“ Do I look all right now 1 ” he whis- 


208 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


pered to Joan, as they followed their 
guide up the winding steps. 

“ Yes, you look fine,” she whispered 
back. “ Now you look at me and see if 
I ’m all right, too. I do hope,” she con- 
tinued, “that my frock is keeping to- 
gether in the back, without my gold 
safety pins.” 

“ Turn around,” ordered Jock, “ and 
I ’ll see in a moment.” 

She spun around. “ It seems to be 
holding very well,” he announced, after 
a deliberate survey. “ But I think you 
had better keep your cape on.” 

When they had ascended the last steps 
the black, who was a yard or so in ad- 
vance of them, folded his hands across 
his breast, bowed low in the direction of 
an open doorway, and called out in a 
sonorous voice as if he were the ring- 
master of a circus addressing a vast mul- 
titude: “Prince Jock and Princess Joan 
of Moondom.” He then made another 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


209 


bow to the twins and disappeared behind 
a pair of heavy curtains, that hung before 
a corridor leading to the left ; thus leav- 
ing the children standing hand in hand 
before the open doorway. 

“ Swish-swash, swish-swash,” sounded 
the rustle of silken garments, and the fair 
Lady Imogen stood before them. Smil- 
ingly she took the twins by the hand and 
said: “ Prince Jock and Princess Joan, 
welcome to the White Castle,” and she 
then led them back into her boudoir. 

Lady Imogen made both the children 
think of white lilies the moment she 
stood before them ; for she was tall and 
slim, with pale gold hair and a long 
white throat. Or maybe it was because 
of the sweet perfume that enveloped her. 
For when she moved, a faint odor of 
lilies-of-the-valley would steal out from 
between the folds of her white dress. 

“ Now this is lovely,” she said, as she 
seated herself upon a big silver-brocaded 


210 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


lounge and drew a twin down cosily on 
either side. “And now I am going to 
tell you a secret which you must n’t tell 
to anybody,” she continued, smiling into 
the children’s eyes. 

“Oh, please tell us,” said Joan, “and 
then we ’ll tell you a great big secret 
that Jock and I have. It ’s a fine 
one, too, and I know you will like to 
hear it.” 

“ I certainly shall,” laughed Lady 
Imogen. “ And is n’t it splendid fun for 
us both to have secrets we can exchange ? 
Now I will whisper mine. Here it is : 
The whole of this morning I was feeling 
so very lonesome that I did n’t know what 
to do. I couldn’t work on my embroid- 
ery, it seemed so stupid ; and I would n’t 
take my swans any cake, as I usually 
do, they seemed so greedy; and I just 
did n’t do a thing except to wish with all 
my heart for some one to come and pay 
me a visit. And here you are, and I am 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


211 


so glad.” She hugged the twins up to 
her a little closer. 

“ And so are we,” they cried. 

“Now, Jock, you begin to tell Lady 
Imogen our secret,” ordered Joan, and 
she snuggled down in the cushions of the 
sofa, so as to make herself more comfort- 
able before her brother began to recite 
how they had decided to go in search of 
the magical Crystal Ball from the Garden 
of the Sun, so that they might give it to 
their father, the King, as a birthday 
surprise. 

Jock began at the very beginning of 
their adventures, and he undoubtedly 
told the story well, for when he had come 
to the end and had described how the 
gypsy woman had read their fortunes 
and found the way for them to reach the 
Garden of the Sun by directing them to 
the White Castle, where they would find 
instructions as to their future course, the 
Lady Imogen, who had been listening 


212 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


with intense interest, grew quite excited. 
She clapped her hands together and cried 
out : “ You will find the Crystal Ball 
soon ! Oh, I know you will ! I know it, 
I know it, I know it ! ” 

The children, thrilling at her words, 
begged to know if she were the one who 
would direct them, and if so, how much 
farther they had to go before they would 
reach the Garden of the Sun. 

She caught a hand of each and gave it 
a joyous little squeeze, as she said: “ Yes, 
I am to direct you. But there goes the 
lunch-gong. And so we will have to 
postpone the matter until later in the 
day. But first I will tell you, so that 
suspense won't spoil your appetite, that 
the Garden is very near, indeed. Now 
let us go and have our lunch." 

As she led the twins down the huge 
spiral stairway and through the numerous 
rooms and corridors that led to the dining 
room of the White Castle, Joan said : “ I 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


213 


don’t believe there is anything that could 
spoil our appetite, right now. Even the 
beautiful fact that we have almost found 
the Crystal Ball.” 

They had a delicious luncheon served 
by the black who had let them into the 
White Castle. All the plates and dishes 
and even the goblets were of solid silver, 
of exquisite workmanship, which the chil- 
dren admired very much, for all of those 
things at the Moondom Palace were of 
blue and white china, except one set, 
which was used only on state occasions, 
and that was just white with a gold band. 

“Now,” said the fair Lady Imogen, 
when they had finished, “ now I shall tell 
you how to get to the Garden of the 
Sun ” ; and her eyes sparkled mischie- 
vously. “ To begin with, you must go out 
of this door,” and she turned the silver 
knob of a white enameled door which led 
from the dining room out into the back 
yard of the Castle. “Next, you must 


214 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


follow the gravel walk,” she continued, 
“ until you come to a steep flight of steps, 
which leads down into a garden that 
looks like snow. And it is in this snow 
garden that my swans live, and I shall 
ask you to feed them some cookies I will 
give you as you pass them by.” 

“We will love to do that,” interrupted 
the twins togther. 

Lady Imogen nodded and went on : 
“ At the end of this snow garden you will 
come to a large barred gate. Now pay 
the strictest attention to this, for if you 
do not follow my directions exactly, all 
your future efforts will be of no avail.” 

“ Oh! ” breathed the children. 

“ This barred gate,” she continued, “ has 
inserted in its left gatepost, in the upper 
right-hand comer, a secret spring which 
you must press with a tenpenny iron nail, 
which I will present you with before you 
leave. And by no means must you let 
your hand touch this spring, for if you 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


215 


do the garden which looks like snow will 
suddenly turn bitter cold, and real snow 
and ice will appear on all sides, and you 
would both be frozen stiff before you 
could pass through to the further side of 
the gate, which will open on to another 
garden that looks just like fire. But you 
will have no difficulty in passing through 
this, when you come to its end and have 
reached a second barred gate, just like 
the first, — except its spring is in the 
right-hand post and in the lower left- 
hand corner. And should you chance to 
touch any part of this gate with your 
hand, instead of with the tenpenny nail, 
the second garden will turn into fire and 
flames, and you would both be burnt to 
ashes before you could reach the second 
gate at the far end of the fire garden, 
which leads to safety.” 

“ How is the third gate opened ” asked 
Jock. “ With a nail, too ? ” 

“ No,” answered Lady Imogen. “ It ’s 


216 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


just an ordinary kind of gate, and can be 
opened any way you choose. Now this 
is all that I can tell you, except that 
when you have passed the snow garden 
and the fire garden, it will not be long 
before you find the Garden of the Sun.” 

The twins were speechless with happi- 
ness and could only whisper: “ Goody, 
goody, goody ! we he almost there,” so 
delighted were they to think that they 
would be able to get the Crystal Ball in 
time for their father’s birthday, after all. 

“ I shall go and fetch you the tenpenny 
nail, which is of so much importance to 
your enterprise,” said Lady Imogen, and 
she rustled off to the far end of the 
dining room, where the black was stand- 
ing at attention. She murmured a few 
words to him in so low a tone that the 
children could hear no sound; but judg- 
ing by the low bow he made and by his 
hasty departure from the room, they 
thought that she must have given him an 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


217 


order about the nail, and were therefore 
rather surprised when, after stopping for 
only a few seconds to open the dining- 
room sideboard and take out half a dozen 
cookies, she came rustling back to where 
they were standing. 

“ Have you got the tenpenny nail ? ” 
asked Jock eagerly. 

She held it up for answer. “ See for 
yourself,” she laughed, as she handed it 
over to him. Then turning to Joan, she 
placed the cookies in her hands. “ You 
remember you promised to feed my 
swans, as you pass their pond ; and now 
kiss me good-by,” and she stooped down 
so that she might take the children in 
her arms and kiss them, mouth to mouth. 

“ Good-by, little brave hearts,” she 
said. “ We will meet again some day.” 

“ Yes,” echoed Joan, “some day.” 

“Some day,” announced Jock, “I am 
coming back to marry you. When I am 
big,” he continued. 


218 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


The door swung to behind the twins, 
and they stepped gaily down the white 
gravel walk that led towards the flight 
of steps at the foot of which lay the snow 
garden. 

Don’t you think that Jock and Joan 
were very courageous children to be step- 
ping so happily, when both knew what 
dangers of being frozen to icicles or burnt 
to ashes lay before them in the Snow Gar- 
den and in the Fire Garden h 

Well, they soon came to the steps, and 
there they had to stop to admire the beau- 
tiful sight that was spread out below 
them. 

It looked as if the Snow Garden reached 
for miles and miles, and every spot that 
the eye could alight upon was filled with 
some white object. There were trees 
covered with plum, pear and cherry blos- 
soms, and a filigree marble pavilion of 
the pearliest shade was almost hidden by 
white clematis; white roses and white 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


219 


lilies by the millions, orange blossoms, 
white lilacs and syringas were growing in 
clumps and bushes on every side. White 
hollyhocks and hawthorns made back- 
grounds for statues no whiter than them- 
selves ; the very ground was of the same 
hue, so thickly covered was it with dai- 
sies, crocuses, white violets and hyacinths, 
while white doves and pigeons flew and 
cooed among the blossoms, and white 
butterflies sprang lazily from great waxy 
magnolia blooms. 

Near the center of the garden was the 
pond where the Lady Imogen kept her 
swans, with a dear little marble swan- 
house upon a blossom-covered island in 
the center, and bordered about with white 
fleur-de-lis and jonquils. 

There were at least twenty of the grace- 
ful birds swimming slowly and majesti- 
cally about among the snowy water lilies 
that abundantly spread their beauty upon 
the surface of the pond. 


220 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


When the twins had stood spellbound 
and dazed by all of this dazzling white- 
ness for some moments, Jock broke the 
silence by saying: “Well, I don’t see 
much to be afraid of in that garden, and 
I suppose that if we follow Lady Imogen’s 
directions we will pass through safely. 
So let ’s hurry and go on.” 

“Yes,” agreed Joan, as they scampered 
down the steps. “It looks safe enough 
all right and does n’t even feel cold. But 
I think we had better hurry, for it would 
be an awful thing for little children like 
us to be frozen to hard, stiff icicles.” 

They wound their way in and out 
among the white blossoms as rapidly as 
they could, only stopping long enough by 
the pond to crumble the cookies up and 
toss them to the swans, which gobbled 
them down in a snap of your finger. 

When at last they reached the far end 
of the garden and saw before them a high 
white wall with a massive silver-barred 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


221 


and studded gate in the center, they knew 
that they were drawing near to their peril. 
For this was the gate that must be opened 
by pressing the secret spring hidden in 
the upper right-hand corner of the left 
gatepost with the tenpenny nail. 

Joan put her hands over her face and 
held her breath, so nervous was she, as 
Jock reached up with the nail and fum- 
blingly pressed it against the right-hand 
corner of the left gatepost. 

For a second he must have missed 
the spring, for nothing happened. Joan 
peeped between her fingers. “ Press 
harder,” she whispered. He did so, and 
the gate swung suddenly wide open. 

The twins did not hesitate a second, 
but rushed through, kicking the doors 
shut behind them. 

“ Wheel” whistled Jock, catching his 
breath. “ I ’m glad that danger is passed 
triumphantly, and we are still alive and 
kicking too,” he laughed. 


222 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ I wish we had passed this fire garden 
also,” said Joan as she gazed about her, 
“ even though it is so very pretty.” 

The garden on this side of the white 
barred gate was, as Lady Imogen had 
warned them it would be, a fire garden. 
For although it looked harmless enough 
with its scarlet and yellow blossoms flam- 
ing on every side, the wise children knew 
it was only necessary for them to make 
the least little weeny mistake in finding 
the spring that opened the gate at its far 
end, to only so much as touch the brick 
work of this gate with their hands instead 
of with the tenpenny nail, and the bright 
flowers and shrubs would burst into living 
flames that would quickly devour them. 

The fire garden seemed quite small and 
compact after the vast white garden that 
had lain before it. In fact, it was only 
a strip of, say, half or two-thirds of a mile 
in length, and only a few dozen yards in 
width. It was bordered with a high red 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


223 


brick wall, against which grew clumps 
of scarlet sage, sumac and red, yellow 
and orange dahlias. 

There was a brick arbor or pavilion at 
one side which was well covered with 
russet-leaved vines and surrounded with 
marigolds and tall red tiger lilies. There 
were also calla lilies and hollyhocks, 
tulips, poppies and roses ; but nowhere 
could the children espy a single flower 
that was not some shade of either red or 
yellow. 

The only trees that grew there were a 
few red maples, whose trunks were fes- 
tooned with trumpet flowers ; while the 
bushes, of which there were a great num- 
ber, consisted of broom, japonica, and 
red bud. 

The ground was covered with butter- 
cups, yellow violets and dandelions, with 
now and then a brilliant poppy, like a 
little red tongue of fire, in the midst of 
the yellow blooms. 


224 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


It was at a rapid pace that the chil- 
dren hastened onwards, not stopping to 
notice any of the more unfamiliar plants 
or the different insects, red ants and 
yellow butterflies and beetles which 
would have tempted them in any other 
garden. Their only thought was to 
reach and pass through the second gate. 

They were fairly running before they 
came to the end of the garden. 

“You have the nail safe in your 
pocket, haven’t you?” panted Joan to 
her twin; “it would be awful to lose it.” 

Jock nodded. “ Safe and sound,” he 
said. “I’m keeping my hand on it all 
the time, so as to know exactly where 
it is. But now is the time for it to come 
out, for here ’s the gate at last.” 

“ Oh, do be careful,” begged Joan, 
“ for it would be lots worse to be burnt 
to ashes than to be turned to an icicle. 
Now remember that it ’s in the right-hand 
post and in the lower left-hand corner 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


225 


that this gate’s spring is,” she reminded 
him. 

Without a word Jock stepped up and 
pressed the tenpenny nail with all of 
his strength in the exact spot that she 
directed, and without a second’s delay 
the gate sprang open, and the children 
saw to their amazement that they were 
facing a plantation of sunflowers. 

“ Oh ! ” cried Joan. “ Do you suppose 
that can possibly be the real Garden of 
the Sun, at last. Oh! It would be al- 
most too good to be true.” 

Jock caught her by the arm and 
dragged her through the gate. Then 
pushing it shut behind him, he said : 
“Now you can talk in safety, since the 
fire garden is passed.” 

“ Ouch” complained Joan, rubbing her 
arm. “ You hurt me.” 

“I didn’t mean to,” said Jock, “but 
I knew it was dangerous for us to be 
standing there blabbing, while any mo- 


226 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


ment the gate might have snapped shut 
again, and left us on the wrong side of it.” 

“ So it might, you nice, wise boy,” 
agreed Joan. “ I was so very surprised 
to find all these sunflowers before us that 
I completely forgot about our still being 
in a fire garden. Oh, I wonder if this is 
the Garden of the Sun ? It really must 
be, because I don’t believe anywhere else 
could there be so many beautiful sun- 
flowers blooming at once. Why, there 
must be millions and billions of them. 
Don’t you think it might be the Garden 
of the Sun 9 ” 

Jock craned his neck first to one side 
and then to the other, before he dared to 
answer her query. “Well,” he said hesi- 
tatingly at last, “it might be, and then 
again it might not. But I do think it 
looks as if it was. Also I recollect that 
Lady Imogen said that we would arrive 
at it quite soon, although she could n’t 
exactly tell when or where.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


227 


“ There does n’t seem to be any sort of 
path,” observed Joan, “so we had better 
try our old plan of going first to the East 
and then to the West and keeping on till 
we get there.” 

She glanced at the compass that hung 
about her neck and started off, stepping 
in and out among the tough, gray-green 
stems of the sunflowers. Jock followed 
closely at her heels. 

The plants were so tall that they 
reached far above the heads of the chil- 
dren, who felt as if they were in the midst 
of a dwarf forest. 

They had traveled a long distance 
towards the East before they judged it 
prudent to turn to the West. For, as 
Joan said, they would want to give both 
the East and the West a good, fair trial 
before they started to go just any way to 
get there. 

When they had been traveling for at 
least an hour in a westerly direction, they 


228 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


decided that they should now go just as 
they chose, any way that met their fancy. 
And so they began plunging ahead at a 
lively pace, zigzagging in and about the 
tall sunflowers. 

“Wouldn’t it be terrible,” said Jock 
over his shoulder — he was now in the 
lead — “ if we should pass by the magical 
Crystal Ball without seeing it.” 

Joan stopped still at this awful thought 
and stared inquiringly at her brother. 

“Indeed,” continued the boy, with an 
emphatic nod of his head, “ it would be 
the easiest thing in the world to miss it 
among all these plants. For you know 
we can’t see more than two yards between 
their stems, they grow so thick.” 

“Oh, well,” said Joan, and her face 
brightened amazingly, “ we will just have 
to keep going around and around, back 
and forth, right and left over this whole 
field, until by and by we will certainly 
have to come to the Crystal Ball.” 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 229 

Again they started bravely onwards. 
“ There seems to be some sort of a path 
cut into the sunflowers, a little way in 
front of us,” observed Jock. “ Don’t you 
think we had better try to get to it? 
For the walking would be much easier.” 

Joan agreed. 

The path was nearly no path at all; 
but merely a line where the sunflowers 
had been cut down. 

“ It looks as if some one had just 
whacked them,” said Joan, as she daintily 
lifted her skirt to step over a stump of 
one of the mutilated plants. “ See the 
sap has not had time to stop oozing 
yet.” 

Jock nodded. “We can get along 
much faster where they are cut,” he said, 
“ and so I am very glad we found this 
trail, for it is really more of a trail than 
a path,” he continued, as he stepped over 
stubbles and stumps. 

In and out among the tall flowers led 


230 THE CRYSTAL BALL 

the trail. And in and out hurried the 
twins, until they were almost exhausted. 

“I don’t believe this old trail is ever 
going to lead us anywhere,” panted 
Joan. 

“Would you rather branch off to the 
side 1 ” asked J ock. 

She sorrowfully shook her head : “ No,” 
she said, “ for we would have to go at a 
slower pace if we did that. But, oh, how 
I wish we would soon find the Crystal 
Ball.” 

Just as she expressed her wish that 
they would soon find the Crystal Ball, 
Jock gave a wild whoop of joy, and 
springing madly to one side, he ran crash- 
ing through the sunflowers, breaking them 
to right and left in his haste. 

“ Oh, where are you going 1 ” cried his 
startled twin, as she hastened in hot pur- 
suit. The only answer he gave was 
another yell, even more exciting than the 
first “ whoop-ee.” “ Oh, I do wish you 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


231 


would tell me what is the matter,” called 
J oan, almost crying with vexation. 

By this time the boy had reached his 
goal, and he was now standing before a 
plain, three-legged kitchen stool, with a 
small wicker basket upon its seat. 

J oan stumbled forward, tearing her 
frock and tangling her curls upon the 
broken sunflower plants as she ran. 

Jock caught her with one hand, as she 
came tumbling against him, and pointed 
to the basket with the other. “ There is 
the Crystal Ball ! ” he said. 

The girl leaned forward and looked. 
Sure enough, there it lay upon a bit of 
cotton down in the bottom of the wicker 
basket, as clear and sparkling as a dew- 
drop, as shining and glistening as the 
happiest tear that was ever shed in 
Moondom. 

“ Oh, Oh, Oh!” breathed Joan, in a 
rapturous little gurgle of delight ! “ I am 

almost afraid to move, for fear it will 


232 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


vanish away. I wonder if it ’s really 
right for us to take it?” 

Jock had no such scruples. “ Don’t 
be a goose,” he scoffed. “ What do you 
think we went through all of our danger- 
ous adventures for, if we did not intend 
to capture the magical Crystal Ball when 
we found it ? ” 

To show that he meant what he said, 
the boy calmly reached for the wicker 
basket; and covering it with two large 
sunflower leaves, he immediately started 
to thread his way on through the plan- 
tation. 

“ Don’t let ’s waste any more time here 
than we can help,” he said. “For you 
must remember to-morrow is Father’s 
birthday, and we will have to do some 
lively walking to get home to the palace 
in time for breakfast.” 

They went as fast as they could. But 
even then, it was almost sundown when 
they passed out of the plantation and 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


233 


heard the last gate click behind them 
and then trotted across a meadow and 
climbed up on a whitewashed snake-fence 
that separated it from the highway. 

“Why, I believe,” observed Jock, 
looking up and down the smooth road, 
“that this is the highway that runs by 
the palace.” 

“ So do I,” agreed Joan. “ And if we 
had only kept on it we would have 
reached the Garden of the Sun that way.” 

“ Well, I ’m glad we did n’t,” said Jock, 
“ for if we had, we would n’t have had 
nearly so many adventures, and we 
would n’t have met all the nice people 
and animals that we have met. Also 
some one very probably would have 
taken us back home before we could 
have found the Crystal Ball. But we ’ll 
go back this way.” 

“ Here come a whole lot of people 
now,” cried Joan, pointing up the high- 
way. 


234 


THE CRYSTAL BALL 


“ They look like soldiers,” observed the 
boy, as he surveyed them and noted how 
the dying sun-rays flashed on the steel 
helmets and breastplates of the approach- 
ing party. 

“ Why, it ’s the palace guard,” screamed 
Joan. “ And there ’s Father in the midst 
of them.” 

They ran forward, waving their staffs 
and calling. 

The King sprang from his horse, and 
tossing the reins to one of the half dozen 
guardsmen that accompanied him, stepped 
forward and clasped the children in his 
arms. 

“My darlings,” he said, “the whole 
palace household has been searching for 
you for three days. Where have you 
been ? ” 

Joan laid a grimy little hand across 
his mouth and said : “ That ’s a birthday 
secret, and you mustn't ask until to- 


morrow. 












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THE CRYSTAL BALL 


235 


Now that ’s the end of the story, except 
that I know you will be glad to hear 
that there never was any king in the 
world so surprised and pleased as was 
the King of Moondom when he came 
down to breakfast on his birthday and 
found the magical Crystal Ball, wrapped 
up in the handkerchief that Joan had 
hemmed herself, lying before his plate. 
And, oh ! how proud he was of his chil- 
dren when they told him all about the 
way they had gone forth and captured it. 

And indeed the Queen was as proud 
of them as was the King. And they had 
a beautiful birthday, and all lived happy 
ever afterwards. 



“ Thornton W. Burgess’ Masterpiece ” 


THE BURGESS BIRD 
BOOK FOR CHILDREN 


By THORNTON W. BURGESS 

Author of “ The Bedtime Story-Books “ Mother West Wind 
Series ” and the “ Green Meadow Series ” 

With full color illustrations of 58 birds by 
Louis Agassiz Fuertes 

Crown 8vo. Cloth. 351 pages. $3.00 net 


Dr. William T. Homaday, America’s Leading Naturalist, says: 
“If there is anything in Mr. Burgess’ text that merits 
criticism, I have failed to find it. The book is a distinct 
triumph, in text and in pictures. It rings true, and it is by 
far the best bird book for children that I have ever seen. In 
fact, it is the very book that * Anxious Mother, * the children 
and the booksellers have been awaiting, for twenty years or 
more.” 

“Nothing that will come out in the way of books for 
children will be any more worth-while than * The Burgess 
Bird Book for Children. * Mr. Burgess has many books to 
his credit, but this is the most ambitious of them all. Bird 
lovers will say that it is the best of anything he has done, 
and it will undoubtedly receive the warmest kind of a 
welcome.” — The New York Times. 

“ More important is the good thing Mr. Burgess has done 
towards making the nursery acquainted with the bird-life 
outside its windows. The color-plates not only defy criticism 
as portraiture, but pictorially they have gained by the 
scientist-artist’s small concessions to illustration.” — The 
New York Sun. 


LITTLE, BROWN & CO., Publishers 
34 Beacon Street, Boston 


A companion volume to “ The Burgess Bird Booh for Children ” 


THE BURGESS ANIMAL 
BOOK FOR CHILDREN 


By THORNTON W. BURGESS 

Author of “ The Bedtime Story-Books,” “ Mother West Wind 
Series” and “Green Meadow Series .” 

With 32 full-page illustrations in color and 16 full-page 
illustrations in black-and-white drawings 
By Louis Agassiz Fuertes. 

Crown 8vo. Cloth. $3.00 net. 


Peter Rabbit had always supposed that his cousin, Jumper 
the Hare, was the only near relative he possessed. When 
Jenny Wren mentioned a cousin of his in the Sunny South who 
was almost as fond of the water as Jerry Muskrat, Peter 
refused to believe it, for you know he hates the water himself. 
But when he had hunted up Old Mother Nature and she had 
said that it was true, Peter became possessed of a great desire 
to know all about his own family, and the families of his four- 
footed neighbors. 

So it came about that every morning just at sun-up Old 
Mother Nature taught school in the Green Forest. It began 
with just Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare, but it grew from 
day to day as news of the interesting things being learned 
there spread through the Green Forest and over the Green 
Meadows. 

This is a companion volume to “The Burgess Bird Book for 
Children,” which has had such a wonderful reception since its 
publication. It is written in the same vein, a story book 
which is at the same time an authoritative handbook on the 
land animals of America, so describing them and their habits 
that they will be instantly recognized when seen. Every 
child, and not a few adults will delight in going to school to 
Old Mother Nature with Peter Rabbit and his friends. 



LITTLE, BROWN & CO., Publishers 

34 Beacon Street, Boston 

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